No More Holes and Maybe Some Surprises
by DeannaElise
Summary: Sequel to More Holes and a Surprise. Twist is back and better than ever. She and everyone else are out of Green Lake for good. More relationships, vacations, and school.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Cut! Alright, that's a wrap. Tomorrow we will go over the footage and put together the commercial. Thanks for agreeing to do this," the director told me and Lewis. I gave a rare sigh a relief. I had been dying to go back home to see if anyone from Green Lake was online. The reason I wasn't there now was because since Camp Green Lake was shut down,and we all had to do community service. Lewis and I just finished shooting a commercial to keep kids out of trouble.

"Hey, Emma hold up," Lewis said running to catch up with me. "You really want to see if Squid is on don't you."

"Yeah, it's been driving me insane that he hasn't been on in a week. I hope he's okay," I said walking to our car.

"I'm sure he is fine. I just want to go home and get ready for my date," Lewis said hoping into the driver's side of the car.

"Where are you and Gia going?" I asked clicking my seatbelt closed.

"To a restaurant."

"I figured that much. Which restaurant?"

"None of your business, I don't want you and Sarah 'accidentally' showing up to spy on us."

"We would never."

"Sure," Lewis said. He signaled that he didn't want to talk anymore by turning up the radio.

I was still adjusting to being back in Houston. My friends kept asking me questions about Green Lake, my parents were always watching me, and I couldn't cope with the fact that I didn't see anyone from Green Lake beside Lewis, who doesn't count. I couldn't wait for school to start. I knew that all of us were going to the same school because we all lived in the same part of Houston. I knew this only because Green Lake was meant for people from our part of town. The reason I hadn't seen any of them was that all of our parents wanted to keep watch over us the whole summer. I only saw any of them once and that was when we were cleaning the park.

We pulled up into the driveway and parked the car in the garage. I walked inside straight to the computer and signed on AIM. I looked at my Buddies List and saw that Hype, Twitch, TC, Stranger, Caveman, Zero, and SQUID was on. Yes! Finally, he decided to get with the program.

Twisted312: Squid! where on earth have u been?

SquidBoy: um…my mom took away the computer.

Twisted312: oh…r u ok?

SquidBoy: yep

Twisted312: sooo…do you know how many days 'til school starts?

SquidBoy: no, but I bet you've been counting down.

Twisted312: 45 days!!! We should all go on vaca together before school starts

SquidBoy: u think all of our parents would let us all go on vaca together?

Twisted312: we could lie and say it was to finish up our services. Lewis and I just finished ours, we shot the commercial today.

SquidBoy: cool, I finished mine this week. I picked up my last park leaf. I g2g. see ya. And I like the vaca idea.

Twisted312: okay, bye

I watched as Squid signed out. I decided to log off as well, I really just signed on for him. I might sign back on later. I walked up to my room and lied down on my bed. I sunk into the feather duvet. I sat up and looked around my light blue room. I actually missed the hunter green canvas of my tent and the smell of dirt. I got up and walked down stairs. I was going to go sit outside, but when I opened the door Sarah was there about to ring the doorbell. I had forgotten that she was spending the night.

She walked past me and said, "I'm glad that that place didn't ruin our ability to tell when one of us is close. So, I brought Scream, When a Stranger Calls, and Mean Girls. What are you in the mood for? Nightmares of screams or the bitches of high school?"

"Um…When a Stranger Calls, I haven't seen that in a while," I said in monotone.

"Okay, what is up with you? Ever since you got back you've been all depressing," Sarah told me.

"It's just that…I miss it. I miss being called Twist, I miss the smell of dirt, and I MISS SQUID!" I whined.

"My goodness Emma. You act like you are never going to see them again. School starts in 45 days, that's not that long."

"Hey, I haven't told you my idea," I said sitting up. "I think we should go on a vacation to the beach."

"Yeah, just the two of us," Sarah said excitedly. She looked at my face, and her face fell. "You meant 'we' as in me, you, and your camp buddies. Emma, that's not fair on my part. I don't know any of them."

"We could invite Gia and Rachel," I said. Gia and Rachel were our other two best friends from last school year before I left.

"Really? I mean, you and your other friends could just go. I don't want to have to make you invite me, Gia, and Rachel."

"Really, I want you guys to come. I can't be around them that often, I still need some sanity into my world."

I watched as the idea sunk into her mind, and after a while her face lit up.

"Let's do it."

I popped in the When a Stranger Calls DVD and we both fell asleep watching it.

The next day, Lewis walked into the living room 'accidentally' tripped onto me and Sarah waking us up.

"Ow…"

"Lewis, you are officially the King of Buttheads," I said too tired to make up a better comeback.

"That's Your Highness," Lewis said rolling off of us.

I glanced at Sarah and she gave a slight nod. We tackled Lewis into the ground and pinned him.

"Get off of me," Lewis gasped. "You two are too heavy."

"Are you calling us fat?" I said.

"Yes."

"Well, then I guess our legs at the moment are temporarily broken," Sarah said crossing her legs.

"What will it take for you two to get off of me," Lewis sighed.

"Breakfast, and not a bowl of cereal. We want waffles with bacon," I commanded.

"In your dreams."

I dug my elbow into his back.

"Fine, fine."

We got up and followed Lewis into the kitchen. We had to supervise his making of breakfast; he is not to be trusted. Breakfast for two was served after about thirty minutes.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the girls

* * *

Chapter Two

"So, Lewis, you have proved yourself once again of being a very decent chef," I said swallowing the last bit of breakfast on my plate.

"And you have proved yourself once again of being a very controlling person," he said with his mouthful of bacon.

"Ah, but at least I chew with my mouth closed. Now, listen, because I will need your help on this whether you like it or not," I said putting mine and Sarah's plates into the dishwasher. "I want to have _everyone_ get together for a week, before school starts. And, the only way this is going to happen is if we get _everyone's_ _parents_ to agree. And we will also invite Gia, Rachel, and the lovely Sarah along. Now, Mom and Dad will only agree to this if we work together. Dad will be easy, but Mom is a little smarter and tougher; as you know. So, before we ask them, we need to set up everything; the dates, the location, the transportation, the hotel rooms, the money to pay for it, etc. Then after that, we need to inform everyone else about it. I mentioned the idea to Squid and he liked it also. So, Sarah and I will think of all the details; and then after Mom and Dad give it the okay, you can tell everyone." I hopped up and pulled Sarah out of the kitchen.

I vaguely heard Lewis talking to himself in the kitchen. "Of course I'll do it. I have no problem being told what to do by a bossy short person that doesn't even come up to my shoulders."

"I heard that!" I yelled over my shoulder.

Sarah and I walked up to my room and sat down on my bed thinking of places to go that are near by.

"You know, Em, there's really no place to go besides the beach," Sarah said after a couple of minutes.

"Your right. But, when should we go? I mean, I think we should go the second week before school starts, so that way we will still have time to readjust for school," I said rolling onto my stomach.

"Hey, my uncle's friend owns a hotel by the beach; so we could probably get a discount. We are going to need it. How many of us are going to be there?"

"Well, assuming that everyone can actually make it; there is me, you, Lewis, Gia, Rachel, Squid, X-Ray, Armpit, ZigZag, Zero, Caveman, Twitch, Magnet, Princess, Dutchess, TC, Stranger, and Hype. So…about eighteen people. Good gravy, how on earth are we going to pay for everything? Ah…I hate having to pay for things. I'm too attached to my money. Mom and Dad might put in a thousand if they agree to this whole ordeal. I have $500 dollars in my savings account, and I know Lewis has $612 in his, so we already possibly have $2112."

"How do you know that that is how much Lewis has in his account?"

"Because I have to keep track of it for him. He has an issue with spending it on junk. Now, you need to find out if we can get that discount, and then I can estimate about how much more money we need or don't need."

"Can do. I have to leave anyways, I'll call my uncle when I get home, and get back to you tonight. I come back over tomorrow to finish planning," Sarah said walking to the door.

"Okay, bye," I called after her.

I saw her wave from her car as she pulled out of the driveway and drove off.

I shut the door, and turned around to find my dad in my face.

"Emma Rose, what did you and Sarah do last night," he asked.

"Nothing," I said walking past him.

"Well, you must have done something because I heard you two talking about some vacation idea."

"Daddy, we were just bored and we were looking at vacation spots," I said walking up the stairs. "And please just call me Emma."

I walked up the stairs, down the hall and into Lewis's room.

"Hey," I said sitting on his bed.Lewis got up and looked out his window. "What are you doing?"

"Just checking for flying pigs because I seem to recall me saying that was when you were allowed to be in my room."

"Fine, I was going to have a brother-sister moment with you and you just kick me out. Well, I love you too," I said dramatically getting up.

"What do you want?" he said.

I plopped back down. "Okay, if this idea thing works we are going to need money. And you have money in your account. We are going to have to use it."

"Ha, that's funny. You expect me to just give my money to you for a vacation? Ha."

"Well are you?"

"Yeah, it's not like you wouldn't have done it anyway."

"Yeah, but this time, I asked," I said walking out of his room and into my own.

* * *

JainaZekk621: Thank you for the review and for adding my story to your alert list.

Trix are for kids: Thank you for the review and for adding my story to your favorites list.

clear with sparkles is a color: Thank you for the review for adding my story to your favorites list.

fishypeople: Thank you for the review and for adding my story to your alert and favorite lists.

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And thank you to everyone else who read More Holes and a Surprise and are now reading this. Ideas are well appreciated. Please also review so I know how to write better for your enjoyment.

Love always,

Dee


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own the girls that's it

* * *

Chapter Three

"Hello?" I answered the house phone.

"Discount is a go," Sarah's voice sounded through the receiver.

"Yes! And Lewis agreed about his money," I said sitting down on the chair in the hallway.

"You forced him to, didn't you?"

"Yes, but it's not like he's unfamiliar to the notion."

"You are going to get in trouble one day."

"I've already been on that train, thank you. Okay, how much is four rooms?"

"Okay, the guy said it was $100 a night per room. And if there is four rooms that's $400 a night. And if we stay there a week that's $2800 dollars."

"Ah, that's more money than we have. Do you know what's in the rooms?"

"Two queen beds, a pull out couch, bathroom, and small fridge and microwave."

"Well, there's nine girls and nine guys. Three people can sleep per bed , so there's six people. Two people can sleep on the pull out couch, so now that's eight people. And, I can bring a sleep bag and someone can sleep on the floor. So that's a room for us girls. But, I don't think the guys will sleep three to a bed."

"Yeah, even Lewis would stand up for himself about that. But, we can't afford three rooms plus food."

"Yeah, you're right. They can bring sleeping bags. So, instead of four rooms, we need two! So, that's $1400 for sleeping arrangements, which leaves $712 left. We'll need half for food, which leaves $356 for the festival they have down there."

"Yes! We are so good. What's left?"

"The most difficult part of the whole process, getting the parents to agree."

"I wish you the best of luck," Sarah said.

"Thanks, I'm going to need it. I'll call you back. Bye."

"Bye." I heard Sarah hang up her end of the phone.

I clicked the 'end' button on the phone and started walking towards my dad's office. It was easy to make Dad do what I want. I just turned on my little girl charm.

I knocked on the solid oak door. "Daddy?"

"Come in Emma Rose I'll be with you in a minute. Yes, Mike, I'm still here," I heard my dad's voice say from inside his office. I walked inside and sat in the chair facing him. "Yes, okay…okay…good bye. Now, Emma Rose what do you want to discuss with me?"

"Okay, Daddy, well you know that summer is almost over, and since I haven't seen any of my friends for the past month; I was wondering if we could all go a vacation together?"

"Friends? Which friends?"

"Well, I would be inviting Sarah, Rachel, Gia, Tori, Charlie, Lillian, Theresa, and Isabella. And, Lewis would be inviting Rex, Theodore, Brian, Stanley, Ricky, Jose, Alan, and Hector."

"Emma Rose, that's a lot of people. How do you plan on paying for this vacation?"

"Well, Lewis and I decided to put together the money we have in our savings account which comes out to $1112, but we need more money. So, I was thinking you could let us borrow $1000. We got a discount for the hotel we would be staying at because Sarah's uncle's friend owns it. And we would only need two rooms, and we would still have enough left over for food and emergencies."

"Okay, but more importantly where would you be going?"

"The beach that is only two hours away," I said hoping that would help his nerves. It didn't.

"Emma Rose, you expect me to let you, my baby girl, go on vacation with eight hormonal teenage boys who aren't your brother. No, no, no, no, no. And if you didn't get that no!"

"But, Daddy! There will be eight other girls, and we will all make sure that none of the boys will get near us. The hotel rooms will be separate! Do you not trust me?"

"I trust you, but I do not trust them-"

"If you don't trust my friends, then you don't trust me! What will make you happy enough to let me and Lewis have our vacation?"

"Call me twenty times a day, so that I know you are safe."

"Two."

"Fifteen."

"Five."

"Ten, no less or no vacation."

"Deal. Thank you Daddy. I would have never have been able to do this if you hadn't taught me your argumentative skills," I squealed running around his desk and giving him a hug. "Daddy, could you tell Mom. Thanks, bye!" I ran out of his office and dialed Sarah's number. "Vacation's a go."

"Really?"

"Yep!"

"I love that you have a push over for a dad."

"Me too. Okay, now Lewis is going to tell everyone else. I'll tell Rachel, and you reserve those hotel rooms for a week from today."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye!" I hung up the phone and yelled up the stairs. "LEWIS! Get your narrow behind in front of the computer and tell everyone that the vacation is a week from today. I'll tell Rachel!"

Lewis walked as slowly as he possibly could towards the computer. "What do you want me to do? I couldn't tell because you were shouting so loud your words blended together."

"Get on AIM, tell everyone that the vacation is next week for a week, payments are taken care of. I will tell Rachel. Oh, and tell some of the guys to bring sleeping bags unless y'all want to sleep three to a bed."

* * *

Trix are for kids: Thank you, I'm glad you think it is a good story. I'll update as soon as a can, but I'm going on vacation and won't be back until July 3. But, I'll be writing that whole time.

JainaZekk621: Thank you!

RoonilWazzlib: Thank you for the idea, I like it. Trust me drama will come, I just don't know when yet.

fantoallwritertonone: Thanks for adding my story to your alert list.

Starviper1: Thanks for addng my story to your favorites list.

Thank you also to everyone who adding me to their favorites list and alert list. Again, ideas are appreciated and review so I know what you think.

Love always,

Dee


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the girls

* * *

Chapter Four

"I am a genius, I am a genius!" I sang jumping around my room.

Lewis popped through my door and sang opera style, "You are annoying."

"You need to work on your vibrato," I said trying to push him out of the room.

"Mission accomplished, Captain," he said slipping past me giving me a salute.

"Good job, Maggot. Now, who is coming?" I said sitting down at my desk.

"Everyone, but their parents were a little hesitant on agreeing to let their precious baby going on vacation with juvenile delinquents."

"Well, Dad about popped his cap when I asked. Oh, FYI we have to call ten times a day."

"Why?"

"Because his precious baby his going on vacation with juvenile delinquents."

"Figured that he was worried about me."

"Get out, unless you have to say anything else of importance."

"Okay, but one more thing."

"What?"

"I am not responsible for anything that happens if Squid does anything."

"Well, I'm not responsible for anything that happens to you if you do anything to Gia. Girl has got stinging slap and good aim."

"Point made," Lewis said.

There was a three minute pause of Lewis looking around, I finally cracked, "GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

"Geez, like I wanted to be in here in the first place," Lewis said walking out of my room. He is so infuriating. I don't see how Gia likes him even a little bit. I should probably call Rachel, I did tell Lewis I would do it. But, I haven't really talked to her by myself in a long time. Ah, well, I need to do it.

I picked up my phone and dialed 555-867-5309 and listened to her ringback tone until she picked up.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, Rach," I said.

"Em? Is that really you?"

"The one and only, what are you up to this summer?"

"Nothing, my family and I already visited my grandparents. Now, I have nothing to do but sitting in my room finding pictures in the ceiling."

"Exciting as that is, would you like come on vacation with Lewis and me and a couple of our friends in a week?"

"Duh! I am so friggen bored it is not even funny. I'll go ask my mommy dearest," she said. I heard her set the phone down, run down the stairs, and then run back up them. "Hold on, I can't find her," she said before setting the phone back down. I heard her yelling 'Mom' while running all over her house. After ten minutes, I heard her pick the phone back up. "She said, 'ask your father' and my dad said, 'ask your mother', so I can go!"

"I love your logic."

"Me too. Which friends are you and Lewis springing on me? I want to be well prepared."

"Just some friends from camp."

"Ah, 'camp' friends. How many is 'some'? Last time you told me you were inviting 'some' friends over for a sleepover, the whole sophomore girl population practically was over there."

"Well, there is me, Lewis, you, Sarah, Gia-"

"Sarah and Gia are coming too? Yea! I won't be totally left out on inside jokes."

"Excuse you, then there's X-Ray, Squid, Armpit, ZigZag, Magnet, Caveman, Twitch, Zero, Princess, Dutchess, TC, Hype, and Stranger."

"Are those their real names, because if they are, then this Armpit person should totally sue."

"No, they are not their real names. But, I'm not going to bother you by telling you their real names. They don't respond to them. Oh, and they call me Twist, and they call Lewis Barfbag."

"Barfbag?"

"I know, ew. You might get a nickname, but I don't know now that we aren't actually at camp."

"Okay, but if I get a gross one, I will not respond to it."

"Don't worry, I will always call you Rachel until I figure out a highly annoying and embarrassing nickname for you."

"I feel so much better. Hey, Em? I gotta go, but I will talk to you later. Bye, hun."

"Bye," I said before clicking the glowing yellow off button

I clicked the talk button and dialed Gia's number. Again, I waited for someone to answer the phone. Nobody did.

I listened to her voicemail message, "Hey, this princess is busy at the moment. So, leave your name, number at the beep. Much love."

"Hey, Gia. It's me, Emma. Um, I'm just calling to talk about…whatever. Call me back. Bye," I said before hanging up.

Not even a minute later my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw Gia Miller. "Hey, slut."

"Hey, hoe. You called?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Um…"

"Besides the fact you have lost your mind in deciding to date my brother. I still gag at the thought."

"Oh, shut up. I remember a time when you thought it was cute that I had a crush on him."

"Yeah, that was seventh grade. Now, it's creepy."

"Well, I'll do my best in trying to not make you throw up on vacation."

"Ah…vacation. I can't wait. My last chance to see everyone before school starts."

"My chance to actually meet these people Lewis raves on about."

"That's what he talks to you about on your dates?"

"Yeah, at first it was interesting, now it's kind of old."

"Well, that's just because you don't actually don't know them yet."

"I guess."

"Well, Gia, I have to go eat dinner. Bye."

"Much love, bye."

I hung up and bounded down the flight of stairs that led to the kitchen. I got out a big pot and filled it half way with water and waited until it came to a boil. I popped in the spaghetti noodles and waited twelve minutes for them to cook. In those twelve minutes, I heated up the Prego, made some garlic bread, and set the table for four. I put the now cooked spaghetti drowning in marinara sauce into the serving bowling and put that on the table along with the garlic bread. I skipped over to the intercom, pressed the button, and let Mom, Dad, and Lewis know that dinner was served.

I heard three different foot steps coming down three different flights of stairs and into the dining room. We all sat down, said grace, and dug in. There was just the sound of silverware hitting china until my mom decided to speak.

"So, Emma Rose, Lewis, your father tells me that you and your friends are going on vacation to the beach in a week."

"Yes, ma'am," Lewis and I chorused.

"Are you going to act responsibly during this time with these other children? And are you going to make sure that they are going to act responsibly? And are you going to make sure that nothing that will harm any of you?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lewis and I chorused again. 'Yes, ma'am' or 'No, ma'am' are the only two responses appropriate in dealing with my mother unless otherwise instructed.

"Emma Rose?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Do you trust these boys enough to let them go on vacation without adult supervision? And, do you trust these boys enough to let them go on vacation with your female acquaintances?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Explain to me why you do."

"Well, all of us girls, excluding Sarah, Rachel, and Gia, have been with these boys for an extended amount of time and have come to trust them. And I trust them enough to allow them to be introduced to Sarah, Rachel, and Gia."

"Very good answer. Lewis?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Do you realize I hold you accountable for the welfare of your sister and her friends?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good."

"Well, Emma Rose, this was a lovely dinner. I hope tomorrow's is as equally satisfying. Lewis, help your sister with the dishes."

"Yes, sir," Lewis said standing up along with me. I grabbed my mother's and my plate; and Lewis grabbed Daddy's and his. We walked to the kitchen and set them in the sink.

"You rinse, I'll load," I said opening the dishwasher.

"Fine, but do you realize that this decision might effect your future?" he said mocking Mom.

"Oh, shut up. At least, she isn't down your throat about your safety," I said taking a plate from him.

"Yeah, but she is down my throat about your safety. Like you can't defend yourself."

"Last time I did that I ended up at Green Lake."

"But then, we wouldn't even be having a vacation. So, thank you for looking like you were about to murder a creep."

"No problem," I yelled from the dinning room. I came back into the kitchen carrying the spaghetti bowl. I put the left over spaghetti in a Glad tub-a-wear and put it in the refrigerator. I knew that tomorrow it would be Daddy's lunch. Lewis and I finished the last of the dishes and went back to our rooms. I sat down on my bed and started to read London; it was my summer reading book. It was pretty good so far, but it was so long. It was over 1,000 pages. I read about half a page and set it down. I sat up and decided to go online.

SquidBoy: hey

Twisted312: hey, what's up?

SquidBoy: my fever

Twisted312: r u sick?

SquidBoy: cold

Twisted312: go 2 bed. ur not allowed 2 b sick on vaca. that will ruin it

SquidBoy: y?

Twisted312: bcuz u won't want 2 go swimming, and will whine when we do, so i will have to stay with u

SquidBoy: i would not

Twisted312: don't lie. go 2 bed. drink fluids.

SquidBoy: fine i feel wanted

Twisted312: good nite

SquidBoy has signed off at 8:30 p.m.

Stranger2You has signed on at 8:31 p.m.

Twisted312: Stranger!

Stranger2You: hey twist

Twisted312: whatcha doin?

Stranger2You: waiting 4 Zero 2 get on

Twisted312: ohhhhh…how r u 2 getting along

Stranger2You: we r fine. how r u and Squid

Twisted312: he. is. sick. i told him 2 go 2 bed and get better

Stranger2You: ah…so u still wear the pants

Twisted312: traded 'em in 4 a skirt, but yea

Stranger2You: lol

Zer02none has signed on at 8:41 p.m.

Twisted312: k go talk 2 him

Stranger2You: thanx!!!! buh-bye

Twisted312: bye

I signed off and took a bubble bath. After an hour of soaking in steaming hot water, I went to bed.

* * *

M a i r 9 5 1 2: I'm glad you love my series. Thanks for putting me on your favorite author and alert list, and putting my story on your alert and favorite list.

JainaZekk621: Thanks for the review!

filipino w/ no life but vga...: Thanks for the review, and you're welcome for writing the stories.

Uchiha Mai: They will get to the beach soon enough. I jump when I'm excited too. Thanks for the review and for adding my story to your alert list!

Running to Stand Still: Good grief that was a long review, but I loved it. I was wondering where you had been. Summer jobs do suck, I got one too. That is cruel that you have to turn in school work during the summer. I know the vaca idea is out there, but...it's my story. Daddy's are very easy to fool. AIM rules! But, nobody really goes on it any more where I live. I can't believe you gave me a huge box with a book character inside. Thank you for adding my story to your alert and favorite list!

dh: Thanks for the review!

wgw: Thanks for the review!

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soccerchick93: Thanks for adding my story to your alert and favorites list, and for adding me to your favorite authors list.

Hey everyone! Sorry I didn't update in so long, I was on vacation. No internet. I got a tan though, I am no longer a ghost! Hope everyone is also having a wonderful summer! I also hope you love/like this chapter too. Again ideas and reviews are welcomed with opened arms.

Love always,

Dee


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the girls and Twist's parents

* * *

Chapter Five

Why am I up? I turned over to look at my clock. It read 4:12 a.m.

"Argh…" I groaned putting my head back into my pillow. I hated that I still woke up this early. I lied there for ten minutes just waiting for my body to go back into sleep mode. It didn't. I sat up and pushed my duvet off of me and walked into my bathroom. I was so happy that I had my own bathroom; a privilege that most people don't have. I brushed out my hair then stared at myself in the mirror. Maybe I should get a hair cut. My hair was down to the small of my back and a dull light brown. Maybe I should color it too or get high-lites. If I did color it, I would probably go Lindsay Lohan red in Just My Luck. I envied TC; she had the long, shiny auburn hair. I had long, stringy, dull brown hair. I will have to consult Sarah about this. I walked out of the bathroom and slipped on my slippers on the way to the stairs outside in the hallway. I trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen. I opened the pantry and grabbed a bagel. Then I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the butter jar; after that, I got the cinnamon and the sugar. I spread the butter on both halves of the bagel, sprinkled the sugar and cinnamon on top, and popped it into the toaster oven set on medium. While it was 'cooking' I made myself some hot cocoa. I heard someone walking down the stairs as soon as I bit down into my cinnamon bagel.

"Do you always have to be so loud in the morning? Just because you are up doesn't mean the rest of up have to get up too," Lewis said turning on the coffee machine.

"Yes, if I wasn't, then I would be alone until eight."

"Well, the rest of us tend to like to sleep past 5 a.m."

"Why don't you just drink your coffee and leave me alone."

"Why don't you just go back to sleep when you wake up early?"

"Why don't you just shut up?" I said walking back up the stairs. I walked to my closet picked out shorts and a camisole. I walked in the bathroom, took a shower, got dressed, brushed my hair and my teeth, and went on the computer. I opened Microsoft Word and made a packing list, menu, and who's in which car list. I did that for about an hour, and went back down stairs to fix my parents' breakfast.

I put my mom's whole grain, cardboard tasting cereal into a bowl with the pitcher of milk beside it. And, then I cut a grapefruit in half, and put each half on a different plate on set one in front of my mom's chair and the other in front of my dad's. For my dad's breakfast, I made pancakes and bacon and set the syrup beside the plate. My parents came down the stairs just as I was pouring their coffee.

"Good morning Daddy; good morning Mom," I said to them as they sat down at the table.

"Good morning Emma Rose," they chorused.

I walked into the living room and sat down in the recliner and looked at Lewis.

"So, Miss Future Housewife, have fun making their breakfast once again," he said not even taking his gaze away from the television.

"No, Mr. Future Unemployed, I don't see why they make me cook every single meal," I said turning my head to see what he was watching.

"Well, you were the one who made Marie quit."

"It wasn't my fault that she didn't like pranks."

"You put ketchup on the walls, your shirt, and a butcher knife. You made her think that you had been stabbed. I think any person would think you were insane and quit," he said turning his head away from The Real World.

"I was young," I said. "And that was two years ago, they could have easily found another one."

"She was our fifth maid that month."

"Whatever."

Dad came into the room and told us he was have clients over today, and that he didn't want us there when they were.

"I'll go to the mall with Sarah, Gia, and Rachel," I said getting up and grabbing the phone to call them.

"I'll…find something to do," Lewis said.

"Go to the mall with Emma Rose," Dad said leaving the room.

"Great," I said before Sarah hung up.

"What?" she said.

"Lewis is coming with us," I whined.

"I'll be by your house in fifteen minutes with Gia and Rachel," Sarah said laughing.

"Bye," I said hanging up. I turned around to face my brother. "Do not act lovey-dovey with Gia around me."

"I can't promise anything."

"I wasn't asking, I was telling. Besides, Gia hates PDA around people she knows."

"Wait, aren't you spending all of your money on the vacation? How are you going to shop?"

"Going shopping doesn't mean I have to buy anything. I will probably buy a new bathing suit and that's it."

I heard Sarah's car horn outside and went into the backside followed by Lewis. I ended up in the middle of Lewis and Gia. Great. It was a very awkward twenty minute ride to the mall. When Sarah parked the car, I climbed over Gia and out of the car.

"Ow…" Gia said stepping out of the car behind me. "Em…you may be small, but you aren't exactly light as a feather."

"At least I have a butt though," I said skipping ahead with my arm linked with Sarah's.

"At least I'm not insane," she yelled after me.

"I reject your insult," I yelled back. I walked into the mall and just stopped. The mall, I felt that familiar impulse to buy the whole building. But, I needed to remain calm and just buy a swimsuit. I was standing there when I felt a foot hit my bottom. I turned around and saw Rachel standing there looking up at the ceiling.

She looked at me and smirked, "You do have a butt."

"That phrase was not an invitation to check the accuracy of it," I said walking backwards. I didn't want my buttocks in danger of Rachel or Gia. They are not to be trusted, especially when Lewis is there egging them on.

"Emma, you are going to run into something if you don't turn around," Rachel said.

"I'll take my chances," I said to her.

"Just turn around, I'll protect you," Sarah said spinning me around and pulling me towards Pacific Sunwear.

I saw the swimsuit I wanted. It was a hot pink bikini with yellow frills around the edges. I found my size, tried it on, and bought it. It was only twenty dollars for the top and bottom together. Sarah bought a pair of shorts, two tanks, and a swimsuit. Gia bought a t-shirt and flip-flops. Rachel bought a swimsuit and flip-flops. And Lewis stood around waiting for us to get done.

"I'm hungry," Gia said.

"Well, we _are_ at the food court," Rachel said to are blonde friend.

Gia was already heading for Wendy's. "I'll have a club ferscata with no lettuce," she said to the behind the counter guy. Lewis paid for it, like a good boyfriend.

Sarah dropped me and Lewis off at our house around 4 p.m. and we both went inside. I went to my room; he went to his.

* * *

ahe: Thank you for the review!

M a i r 9 5 1 2: You will have to wait and see. Thanks for the review!

i-want-cheese: Thanks for adding my story to your alert list!

Thank you to everyone else who has read the first story and is now reading this. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any ideas they are very appreciated. Please review so I knowwhat you think. Remember I controll how often I update. How many reviews I get could influence that. Thank you once again!

Love always,

Dee


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the girls.

* * *

Chapter Six

Today was the day everybody was arriving at my house so we could go on vacation. I quadruple checked my luggage. I wasn't allowed to bring my usual four bags, so I tried to cram everything into two. As I was sitting on my suitcase trying to zip it up, my door burst open to show Gia, Rachel, and Sarah standing in fake karate stance.

"Hey! Come and sit your butts down and help me close this," I said sliding down off of my suitcase. That was a big mistake. It reminded me of those fake chip cans which have those spring snakes inside. And when you open them the 'snake' pops out at you. Replace the can with my suitcase and the 'snake' with my clothes.

"Ah!" we all screamed and dropped down to the floor.

"Is it safe to rise?" Rachel said lifting my bra off her head.

"I think so," I said standing up. "Today is your lucky day girls. You get to help me repack and close my suitcase."

"Great," Sarah said. "Not."

We all started to pick up the many articles of clothing on my floor and throwing them on top of my bed. After that, I looked at them, the clothes…not the people. I did not like folding them again, but I also didn't fell like having wrinkles in my clothes. I turned to look at my friends and gave them my pitiful face.

"No. No, no, no, and no! I am not folding your clothes for you!" Gia said firmly.

"Why?" I asked as though I was shocked that she didn't want to help me.

"Because if I don't fold them the right way you go OCD freak on me," she said.

"I do not. And if I ever did, you probably weren't doing it the right way."

After five minutes my clothes were being packed by all four of us, and needless to say I did _not_ go OCD freak on anybody. They sat on my suitcase while I zipped it up. Onto the next problem: Getting the suitcases down into the hallway. IDEA!

"LEWIS!!!!!!!" I sang through the intercom.

"What?" Lewis responded rudely.

"Oh, dearest, nearest brother, you know how much I love you-" I said.

"Move your own suitcase. 10-4."

"I dislike you very much. Okay ladies, this will require strength we knew not we had. So, hitch up thee's skirts and lift with thine's knees."

"Are you done with you temporary insane old English speak?" Sarah said slowly.

"For the moment," I said bending down along with them to lift my suitcase.

"Goodness gracious Emma! Did you secretly embed rocks into the lining of your suitcase?" Rachel said straining to lift the suitcase up.

"I think thou hast accused of me of acts of insanity."

"No, but at least she does speak in normal language!" Gia said trying not to fall down the stairs.

"Fine, I will give into your conformity, for now."

"Finally! The hallway!" Sarah squealed. We gave her the same weird look. "What? It was heavy."

"Okay it is 9:48. Everyone should be here around 10:00, and we will hopefully be out on the road by 10:30," I said walking into the living room.

"Do you plan your life by a time clock?" Lewis said as I sat on the couch.

"At least I don't plan it by the TV schedule," I said pointedly looking at the TV Guide in his hand.

"Hey, this is just so I can TiVo what I'm going to miss while we are here."

"Sure."

The doorbell rang, and I jumped up to open it. Standing in front of me were TC, Stranger, Caveman, Zero, and Armpit.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" TC, Stranger, and I screamed. I hugged everyone and invited them in.

"Okay, this is Sarah, Gia, and Rachel. And this is TC, Stranger, Caveman, Zero, and Armpit," I said introducing everyone. After a while there was another knock on the door, and it was Princess, Dutchess, Hype, ZigZag, Magnet, Twitch, and X-Ray. Again there was screaming from us girls, and a group hug, and another introduction. "Where the hell is Squid? He did know that it was today right? What if something happened?" Before I could ramble on any longer there was a knock on the door. I practically flew to the door. I threw it open and saw Squid there.

"Hey-" he started to say, but I cut him off by giving him a long lingering kiss.

"Well, hello to you too," he said after we pulled away.

"Hey," I said giving him a hug.

"Is everybody else here already?"

"Yeah, you were the last to show up. I thought you forgot it was today," I said grabbing his hand and pulling him inside and introducing him to the girls.

"So, you are the infamous Squid?" Rachel said ignoring my deathly glare.

"I guess, unless you know another guy named after an animal," he said looking at me.

"Of course it's you."

"Hey, Barfbag, nice commercial. You and Twist telling what happened to you for two minutes straight. That's entertainment," X-Ray said.

"Yeah, I saw that too, man. What was with the whole 'Stay in school and out of trouble' line, Twist?" Armpit asked me.

"That was Rachel's idea. She stupidly said it around the director at a run-through, and he like the corniness of it all and decided to make me say it."

"Don't blame it entirely on me, you were the one who started the whole 'let's see how many stupid phrases we can make up' thing."

"And you ended it."

"Just like we need to end this conversation and load the cars. Okay, Twist who is riding with who?"

"Well we have a ten seater and a eight seater, so…Lewis is driving and so am I. In Lewis's car we have Gia, Rachel, Armpit, Magnet, Dutchess, Zero, Stranger, Caveman and TC. In my car we have Squid, ZigZag, Princess, Hype, Twitch, Sarah, and X-Ray. Luggage goes wherever we can put it. This place is about two hours away, so we should be there about 12:30-1:00. So, let's get going," I finished. The guys packed the suitcases, and it took two of them to lift mine.

"Jeez, Twist, did you pack your whole closet?" Squid said shutting the trunk of the car.

"No, just half. I wear things based on my mood, I need options."

"No, you need a forklift," Lewis said to me whiling also shutting the other car trunk. "Well, let's go, before parents come back changing their mind."

I hopped into the driver's seat, and Squid got into the passenger's seat. Unsurprisingly, everybody besides Squid and myself fell asleep while driving down to the coast.

"So, how has life been?" I said following Lewis.

"Decent, Mom's been getting help," Squid said happily.

"Really? That's great. How long has she been going?"

"Half a month tomorrow, when I get back I'm taking her out to celebrate."

"Cool. Well, my recent activity has been planning this trip."

"I know, Miss Send-Squid-to-bed-just-because-he-sneezed-a-couple-of-times."

"Hey, I would probably not have bothered with this if you couldn't have come. The whole point of it was for people to get together."

"Yeah, so who is which from your other friends. I can't remember names with faces."

"Gia, Lewis's girlfriend, is the blonde, Rachel is the freckled one with brown hair, and Sarah is the one in our car."

"Oh…"

"They'll warm up to y'all eventually. And when they do, watch out, they are crazy. And you can thank your's truly for that."

"Ha…that's what this world needs; Twist cronies."

"You know you love my insane vibe."

"You know you love my…everything."

"You know I love your modesty."

"I know."

I laughed and after a while I was driving a car full of sleeping teenagers. They slept the whole way to the coast. I pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and to wake them up and blew the horn. "We are here."

* * *

Running to Stand Still: If I had a brother I am positive that he would not pay for anything I wanted. Cool, I want a maid. I'm not exactly Little Miss Neat Freak. Your warning has been accepted and caution is now here. Thanks!

stephanie: crazy-ness will be extribuated with extreme caution

lilygirl592: Thanks for adding my story to your alert list!

stephy151: Thanks for adding my first story to your alert list!

BadLuck and Karma: Thanks for adding my story to your alert list!

Everyone else, thanks for reading! Okay last little paragraph to y'all told you to review or I wouldn't update. Yeah, only two people reviewed. Again thanks to Running and stephanie. Please review, I want to know what you think! Okay, I actually didn't update in a long time because I was on vaca with friends and again no internet. And all next week I have Driver's Ed...ew. And then, I don't know the exact dates, but I'm going on vaca again to two different places and I am pretty sure they don't have interent either. Which sucks. So...who knows when I'll update next. Not even I know. But, review and those of you who are also on summer vaca, enjoy it while it lasts!

Love always,

Dee


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

Disclaimer: You know it.

* * *

Chapter Seven 

We were all standing in the lobby, while Sarah and I were checking us into our rooms.

"Hey Mr. P! Did Uncle Richie set up our rooms?" Sarah asked the plump man behind the counter.

"Yes he did Miss Sarah," Mr. P. replied.

"Mr. P., how many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to call me Miss Sarah. So, anyway, can we have our two room keys?"

"Sure…Sarah," Mr. P. said with great difficulty trying not to say Miss Sarah. He did some stuff with his computer and gave us the two room keys. He looked at everyone we had and looked at me. "How do you expect all these people to fit into two rooms?"

"We're clever, Mr. P.," I said smiling at him.

He looked at little scared at my answer. Squid came over to join us, probably to see what was taking so long. Mr. P. looked at him and turned back to me, "Young lady, would you like three luggage carts?"

"Excuse me," Squid interrupted. "I don't think we will need those. Where are our rooms anyway?"

"Floor Eighteen, sir," Mr. P. said.

"Floor Eighteen?" Squid said now thinking that those three luggage carts sounded really useful. "On second though, we'll take the luggage carts. Hopefully they can hold a lot of weight, Twist's bag weighs at least fifty pounds."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," I said sarcastically up at him.

The bellboy had brought the three luggage carts, and the guys put the bags on it. When they tried to put mine on, the bellboy stopped them.

"I'm sorry; you'll have to carry that one. If you put it on it would break the cart."

I felt my mouth drop. Thank goodness it had wheels.

We walked to the elevator and Squid volunteered to stay behind with me to help with my bag.

"Stupid weight limit on the elevator," I mumbled.

When we finally got up to the rooms, Sarah looked worried.

She walked over to me. "I don't think our rooms were supposed to be right beside each other."

I looked at her. "You worry too much, we'll just keep the joint door locked and blocked." I turned my attention to Squid. "We wouldn't want anybody untrustworthy to sneak into the room."

"Hey!" Squid said in fake shock.

The girls and I went into our room to see what it looked like and so we could set up our stuff. We had two queen sized beds, a pull out couch, a mini kitchen, a bathroom, a 'dining' table, and a deck over looking the ocean and the pool down below. We immediately set up our stuff and put on our bath suits. We didn't want anytime to pass by wasted. Ten minutes later, we went to go get the guys. I knocked on the door.

"Hold up!" I heard some one say from the other side of the door. After a few seconds, Twitch opens the door. We all pushed past him into the room.

"Hey," I said sitting down next to Squid. "Put your bathing suit on; we are going to the beach!"

After a couple of minutes the guys were ready and we all headed down to the beach. I was setting up my towel along with the other girls so we could tan.

"That's what you are going to be doing at the beach? Tanning?" Lewis said. He was standing in front of all the guys who were agreeing that tanning was a waste of time.

"So? I like the beach, not the ocean," Hype said annoyed at the thought of being interrogated by them.

"What's the difference?" Caveman asked us.

"You can not drown in sand as easily as you can in water," TC said.

"And, I like seeing where I'm standing," Gia said.

"One word: seaweed," I said shuddering.

Lewis looked at the guys and gave a small nod. In a matter of milliseconds Hype, TC, Gia, and I were being thrown into the ocean. I soon as I was back on the sand, I looked and Squid and smacked him upside the head.

"Why on earth did you thrown me in there? There are sharks in there!" I yelled.

"You looked dehydrated," he said smirking at me.

I walked back over to my towel and lied down to get some sun. We stayed at the beach for about four hours: the guys swam and left us girls to tan. I called dibs on the shower first because I knew that there would be no hot water left by the time it came to be my turn if I didn't. I waited for everyone to finish and we went to the grocery store to stock up on food for the week.

I decided that not all of us should go to the grocery store because we wouldn't have enough room in the car for all the food. Squid, ZigZag, and Princess decided to come along with me to go get everything. I drove to the Piggly Wiggly down the street and we started our mission for cheap, but edible, food. I thought we should just go up and down the aisles getting food that looked good. We finished picking out food, and Princess and I had to convince Squid and ZigZag that we had to get veggies. The cashier looked at me funny when I pulled out my handy dandy visa gift card with all the money on it. Disadvantage to being short: you look about five years younger. But, his look did not faze me, I just looked back at him cross eyed for that whole time. We all went back to the car, loaded it, drove back to the hotel, unloaded the car, and I made dinner for everyone. And then around 2:00 a.m. I decided to make everyone go to bed.

I heard the faint ringing of my cell phone alarm around 9:30 a.m. I sat up and looked at the floor. I decided to get up and wake the girls for this hilarious moment.

"Oh my goodness! What are they doing?" Rachel said laughing. We were looking at the floor and all of the guys expect Squid were in the room sleeping.

"How did they get in here?" TC said.

"I left them a key just in case for emergencies," I said.

"Aw, look at Lewis and his teddy bear," Gia cooed. Sick.

"Oh, I have an idea. Let's take pictures before they wake up," I said grabbing my digital. "What a Kodac moment." The flashing of my camera eventually wakes the boys up.

The was a knock on the door, Dutchess walked over to open it. "Good morning, Squid."

"Hey, Dutchess. Do you know where the guys are? I woke up tis morning and they weren't there."

Dutchess opened the door wider, so Squid could see that everybody else was in our room.

"Dude, they slept here all night? And I missed it?"

"We don't know, we just woke up and found them here," Sarah said from across the room.

Lewis still had his eyes closed but said, "We're here because of YOUR snoring Squid."

"We couldn't take it," X-Ray said sitting up.

"No wonder, Twist never wanted to come back to our tent. She hadn't learned how to block it out. And now that we don't live there anymore we forgot about it," ZigZag said stretching.

"I do _not_ snore," Squid said agitated.

"Yea, you do," Twitch said standing up.

"You guys better go now, because we need to get ready. Princess, get in the shower now or you'll never be ready in time," I said deciding to take charge.

"Okay, can you guys leave?" Princess said motioning to the door.

"Why would we want to leave now? It's just getting good," ZigZag said smiling with the other guys nodding in agreement.

"Leave," Stranger said throwing her pillow at them. The rest of us deciding on following her lead, and we eventually got the guys out.

"With what just happened this morning, I can tell this is goning to be one interesting week!" Sarah exclaimed.

We all laughed and started to get ready for the day.

* * *

RoonilWazzlib : Thanks for the review! I am going to try to give drama a key in dealing with 18 teens on vaca.

Running to Stand Still : Thank you very much! I understand about being tired...I am too.

Hey everybody! Well, this might be the last chapter for a couple of weeks. But, I promise to keep writing while I'm away, so when I get back there should be lots of new stuff. Remember to review, review, review. Wish me luck with Driver's Ed. I can't believe that we have to stick to the school dress code during it, it is like 90+ degrees down here. I FINISHED THE LAST HP BOOK! I won't give anything away for those who are still reading. I loved it though! I went to the midnight thing and read it all in one night. Ha. My friend's are mad because they usually finish first. Well...that's all for now.

Love always,

Dee


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The same as the last ones.

* * *

Chapter Eight

"Be safe and have a good time," my father's voice said over the phone before we both hung up.

"C'mon Twist, we have to go and get ready!" TC yelled at me.

I quickly changed into my bathing suit and cover up, and went with her to the lobby for the complementary breakfast. As we both entered the lobby Gia was yelling at the guys.

"Boys! Boys! Boys! Settle down. You know we don't want to start the vacation with arguing. Now, everyone hug everyone!" she said firmly after she obtained their attention.

"But-" Lewis started to whine.

"Nope, you have to. And not those boys hugs either! I want good tight hugs! All of you…now!"

"Gia, if you ever tell ANYONE ELSE that you forced us to do this, I'll…" X-Ray said trailing off.

"Hey guys what's up?" I said bouncing into the room.

"Nothing, let's go to the beach," Squid said leaping back from ZigZag.

"It's okay Squid. I trust that you would never leave me for Ziggy," I said looking up at me.

He had a horrified look on his face because, I'm guessing, he did _not_ want me to see him hugging the guys.

"How's everyone doing?" TC asked trying to break the tension.

"Let's go to the beach," Sarah and Hype said simultaneously.

"Hey! I want to eat first," I said trying to walk over to the waffle maker.

"No, then you would have to wait an hour to go in the ocean," Squid said holding me back.

"Are you suffering from memory loss? I told you yesterday; I don't go in the ocean," I said pushing his arm off of me.

"Yeah, Squid, remember? They tan," X-Ray said knocking on Squid's head.

"Fine. I won't eat; I'll swim in the ocean with you. And when I step on sea weed or a fish, you will be to know," I said stomping through the doors pushing him ahead of me.

"I promise to protect you from the sea weed," he said looking down at me.

"Okay," I said turning to the girls. "Who's coming with me?"

They all looked at each other.

TC being my brave little companion walked over to me, "I can if you can."

We both turned our attention to the rest of the girls expecting them to follow. Finally the rest of the girls decided to give up on doing nothing but tan and follow me and TC to the open sea. The guys, of course, ran into the ocean; while, us girls stopped at the edge.

"What are you doing?" Armpit asked us.

"It's cold," Rachel said as though pointing out the obvious, which she was.

"Well, you are going to get used to it just standing there," Magnet said as though we were being silly, which we weren't.

"Maybe we don't want to get hypothermia," Dutchess said.

"You aren't going to get hypothermia," ZigZag said.

"How do you know?" Princess challenged.

"Because I do," ZigZag said walking up to her.

"What are you doing?" Princess asked him nervously.

ZigZag didn't respond with words, instead he picked her up bridle style and threw her in. "Who's next?"

I ran into the ocean thinking that that was the safer option. Wrong. I ran to Squid and I felt something on my feet. I screamed and jumped so high that I ended up on top of Squid's shoulders.

"What's wrong with you?" he said looking up at me for once.

"Sea. Weed.," I said slowly.

"Is that all? Get off my shoulders."

"Make me," I said threateningly. This was a very wrong this to say. Squid "slipped" and fell into the water with me on his shoulders. Of course, I lost my grip on his shoulders and fell off. I came up sputtering salt water out of my mouth. As soon as I caught my breath I punched Squid in the arm.

"You are such a butthead," I said as viciously as I could with that particular insult.

"Oh, I am so hurt," he said placing his hand over his heart.

"Good," I said marching back to the towels to lie down. I sat down and saw the other girls coming up to sit with me. "Y'all don't have to sit with me. You can stay in the ocean with them."

"No, we just were going in the ocean because you did. Now that you are out we have an excuse not to go back in," Stranger said lying down on her towel.

"Yeah, I really don't like the ocean. It's like a huge stationary port-a-potty," Sarah said. That really made me laugh.

"Speaking of potties, I have to go. Anybody want to come with?" I asked standing up.

"Yeah, I have to go too," Gia said standing up and linking arms with me as we walked to the hotel restroom.

As we walked in this girl with long dyed blond hair, I could see her roots, looked at us.

"Gia! Oh my God! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Hi, Kerri. I'm here with friends," Gia said back in her I-don't-actually-like-you-stop-talking-to-me-voice.

"Really? I'm here on family vacation. Oh my God, I am _so_ rude. Hi, I'm Kerri McClien. I moved to Houston High the last month of school last year. Who are you?" she asked suddenly turning her annoying voice on me.

"I'm Emma Robinson. I go to HH too," I answered her.

"OH, you're the girl who was sent to 'camp' then?"

"Yeah, I am," I said starting to get defensive.

"I saw you with Alan."

"How do you know Squid?"

"I'm his new neighbor. Mandy would freak if she saw that you jumped on his shoulder."

"Mandy?"

"His girlfriend! She would have bitch slapped you in a heart beat. But, you didn't know, so this is a warning. If you do it again, I will have to tell Mandy."

"I know you did not just say that _my_ _boyfriend_ has a girlfriend who isn't me."

"Keep dreaming sweetheart. Mandy will be here tomorrow, so expect a wake up call. Bye, Gia, always a pleasure," she said sliding out of the bathroom.

Gia suddenly started scrubbing her hands.

"What are you doing? You are supposed to wash your hands after you pee."

"I am getting her slime off of my skin. I hate her! She's in our homeroom and I was nice to her in the beginning because she was new. But, she turned evil once she met Mandy."

"Do you think she was telling the truth?"

"About Mandy? No, Squid wouldn't ever cheat on you."

"She is his next door neighbor though. She would know when Mandy and Squid hung out."

"Emma, believe me. Lewis tells me everything about the guys' love life. Squid isn't cheating on you."

"The only thing, Gia, Squid isn't stupid enough to tell my brother something like that."

"Yeah, but he probably is stupid enough to tell ZigZag or someone else, who would tell Lewis, who would tell me, and I would defiantly tell you."

"I hope you're right," I said after washing my hands and walking out with her back to the beach. Squid saw me and smiled. I tried to smile back, but I just couldn't help but picture him and Mandy.

"Hey, Twist. I'm sorry I dunked you. Can I have a hug?" he asked opening his arms.

"Nah, but I'm sure when your Mandy comes tomorrow, she'll give you many hugs," I said coldly picking up my stuff.

"Huh?" he said acting confused.

"You know what I'm talking about," I said walking back to my room leaving Squid at the beach. I walked on to the balcony and set up my towel there. I couldn't be on the beach with Squid right now. The rest of the girls were suddenly in the room, and TC came out with me.

"So…do you want to tell me what that was about?" she said lying down.

I told her my story, and she nodded and left it at that.

We both fell asleep in the sun.

Before I knew it, I heard the guys talking in the room. I heard a shuffle out to the balcony. I decided to keep my eyes shut to see how this would play out.

"Look at TC and Twist! They're still in their swimsuits," I heard Magnet say. I inwardly rolled my eyes.

"Don't be talking about my TC that way!" Caveman said. I loved Caveman, he was so sweet and protective.

"Same here!" Squid exclaimed aggressively. I inwardly gagged at him.

"Yup they do look pretty good," ZigZag said. Again, eye roll.

"I know that TC looks good," Caveman said.

"Yeah, and my Twist is looking fine," Squid said. I could picture that idiot smirk of his.

"So, wake her up," X-Ray said.

"Uh uh, no way. You!" he said I guess talking to Caveman. He is such a baby.

"Tallest go first," Caveman said.

"But, but…"

"C'mon and do it, Squid. It's not like she is going to kill you," Lewis said. How wrong my brother is.

"C'mon hurry up," Zero said. There was a pause of silence. I could inwardly see them looking at Zero.

"Fine," Squid said.

I felt searing pain as he shook me slowly.

"Ow! Sunburn!" I screaming punching him in the arm.

"Oh, sorry," Squid said looking at me sadly.

"Whatever," I said.

"We need to talk, now," he said.

"Do we really?" I asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Please? Alone? In the, um, bathroom?"

"Fine," I said pushing myself up walking into the bathroom with Jesse following me.

"So you wanted to talk? I'm here. I'm listening."

"I just want to know why you're mad at me."

"Well, hmmm…what do I begin? I don't think you ever mentioned that you are going out with Mandy. Yeah, I met Kerri McClien today, your new neighbor."

"Okay, let me begin. Mandy is my EX. We broke up before I was sent to Green Lake. We're over, she just had trouble seeing that. When I got home, she was at my door. She saw on the news about Green Lake shutting down. She still think we are together. As for Kerri, she's like Mandy's crony. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it. Please forgive me?"

"Hmmm…well."

"Please?" he said looking at me with those gorgeous brown eyes.

"Well…must you look at me like that?"

"Yes, it's my master strategy to get you to forgive me."

"Okay, I shouldn't have believed some dumb blonde the first day I met her. But, if you do ever cheat on me, I personally will make your life suck," I said. I looked at his scared face and reached over to give him a hug. Unfortunately, he was sitting on the rim of the bath tub. We both fell in, with me still hugging him, and Squid's hand hits on shower knob by accident.

"Ah, that feels good on my burned skin."

Squid just laughed at me and kissed the top of my now wet head.

* * *

M a i r 9 5 1 2 : My Squid so snores. I read it really fast, but I kind of regret it. Now it's over! Thanks for the review!

JainaZekk621 : Thanks for the review!

I am Brooklyn : Thanks for adding my story to your alert list!

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Shnaraa : Thanks for adding me to your author alert list and your favorite author list!

Hey everyone!!! I made it through Driver's Ed. My teacher was scary, she looked like a vampire. I was so tired, that I almost fell asleep. Not used to the waking up at 6 am life yet. I'm going back to school shopping tomorrow! Yes new clothes, boo back to school. So, I found out I am leaving Friday-Monday and then again on next Friday-Sunday. I come back the day before school starts. So, I'm going to have fun waking up that Monday. I feel bad for my cousins though, they start this Friday, which I find odd. School should just start on Monday. Sooooo...review!!!! Pretty please, with a cherry on top! I love you forever if you do.

Love always,

Dee


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Squid and I walked out of the bathroom; both of us soaked from the shower.

"What happened to you two?" Rachel said as the whole room looked at us.

"Dude and Dudette, you're all wet. Wow that rhymes," Hype said from the bed.

"Wow, Hype, nothing get's by you, does it?" Squid said sarcastically.

"Long story," I said not wanting to explain why Squid and I were wet.

"Not important," Squid said agreeing with my tactics on the subject. "What are you guys talking about?"

"The "plan" for tonight," Lewis said not looking very happily at me and Squid.

"What "plan"?" I said because I had obviously missed something.

"We're going clubbing!" Gia squealed. "Apparently there's a 16-20 year old club a couple of blocks away."

"Problem!" Stranger spoke up. "I'm still 15; I don't turn 16 until next week."

"Don't worry Stranger," TC said. "You look older. But, Zero and Twitch don't exactly look 16."

"I am too 16," Twitch said. "I brought my I.D. too, so no problem."

We turned our attention to Zero.

"Me too," he said. That was good enough for the rest of us.

"Okay, let's go," ZigZag said walking out the door.

"No, I don't think so," Princess said pointing out that all of us girls were still in our bathing suits. "I have to take a shower first."

"Me too," I said.

"It looks like you already did with Squid," Sarah said obvious to the fact that she should say stuff like that around my brother.

"Hell yeah, Squid," Magnet said high-fiving him. Boys.

"How about an hour?" Armpit said.

All of us girls laughed at that.

"Add another hour and a half to that, and we'll see," Dutchess said between giggles.

"Two hours and no more," X-Ray said getting back into to his authoritative mode.

"Sorry, that just doesn't work for us. Two hours and fifteen minutes, if you leave now," Rachel said.

"Okay, let's go before they request another day," Armpit said heading towards the door.

"We'll be back in exactly two hours and fifteen minutes," X-Ray said.

"Okay! See you then," Sarah said slamming the door in his face.

"Shower line up! Princess, Dutchess, Gia, Sarah, Rachel, Hype, TC, Stranger, and then me. If you don't want a shower tell the person going after you so they know when to go," I said taking charge. I knew that if I didn't things would be chaotic. I decided to put myself last because that is only fair if I'm the one bossing them around. "Also, no more than ten minutes in the shower. Blow-dry your hair out here. We need speed people. This is not a drill." I had always wanted to say that.

After two hours and fifteen minutes we were all ready to go. We were wearing traditional clubbing clothes. But, if I say so myself, I think mine was the most extreme. I was wearing some very short black leather shorts and a hot pink crop tube top.

"Emma, you look…" Sarah started to say.

"Too much? Yeah, I thought so, I'll wear something else," I said started to rummage around in my suitcase.

"NO! You look…" Gia said.

"What?" I said confused.

"HOT!" they all screamed at me.

"Aw, really? Thanks you guys," I said hugging them.

There was a knock at the door.

"Are you girls ready, yet?" an annoyed voice that sounded like Lewis' on the other side of the door.

"Yeah, hold on babe," Gia said putting the final touches of her make up on.

"Gia, please refrain from calling my brother babe in front of me," I said scrunching my nose.

"Sorry," she said.

Stranger opened the door to see the guys wearing day clothes. They had no imagination. The only one who looked good for clubbing was Zero; he was wearing dark baggy jeans and a blazer over a t-shirt.

"Squid, I refuse to go clubbing with you while you are wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt. Look at Zero, he looks good. Ask him for help if you don't know what to wear," I said.

He just looked at me.

"Emma, put some clothes on," Lewis said to me.

"Bite me loser," I said back pulling Squid back into his room to get him ready.

The other girls followed me pulling one of the guys behind them.

Each of us, expect Stranger, was rummaging through a guys luggage and throwing clothes at them.

"Put on the clothes we picked out for you, and don't come out until you do. We are going to wait out here with Zero," TC said closing the door behind her.

We turned our attention to Zero, who seemed very pleased with himself.

"Zero, next time help them," Hype said.

After waiting a few more minutes, we all headed to the elevator and down to the lobby where we exited the hotel and walked to the club. I refused to drive around looking for a parking spot, we we're just going to have to walk.

When we got there, we just waited in line for 20 minutes. We all got in with no problem, expect Squid.

"Hold on, you got an ID to prove you're old enough?" the bouncer said to him.

"Huh? I'm 17," Squid said.

"How can you prove that?"

"Um," Squid searched in his pocket and can't find his license.

I decided against my better judgment and went up to Squid. I glanced at the bouncer name tag. "Reggie, he's with me."

Reggie looked at me and thought about letting him in with me or kicking us both out.

"Go, but any of you cause any trouble you are all out," Reggie said opening the door for us.

When we walked in, I looked up at Squid and burst out laughing. "You owe me."

"I can't believe he only let me in because of you," Squid said sounding shocked.

"Hey, you are lucky he thought I was cool enough to let you in with me."

"He didn't think you were cool, he thought you were hot."

"He's right," I said pulling him towards everyone on the dance floor.

We dance to Get Low, Boom! It's On, Temperature, Buy U A Drank, and Bartender, and then I pulled Squid outside to get some air. We were outside for about five minutes.

"So...how's life?" I said trying to break the awkwardness of our last conversation.

"Well, pretty good. I'm out with this amazing looking girl tonight. And she's pretty nice too. You?"

"Not so good, I'm out with this horrible looking guys, who has no clue how stupid he is," I said smiling up at him.

"Nice, very nice," he said laughing at me.

"Just kidding, I meant; I'm out with this sexy beast who is one of the few people who really know how to make me smile."

"Sexy beast?"

"Don't make you're head bigger than it already is."

"I am _never_ going to let you forget that."

"I figured, but I don't care. Let's go back in."

I smiled at Reggie, who opened the door for us.

"Alan!" the familiar high pitched voice of Kerri said through the club. A few seconds later Kerri was right beside us.

"Um, hi Kerri," Squid said awkwardly.

"And YOU," Kerri said looking at me.

"What are you doing here? Following Squid around for Mandy? You seriously have no life," I scoffed at her.

"No, I came here to get away from my family, so I could actually have some fun. I didn't know I'd see _Alan_ here," she said touching Squid's arm.

"Well, if you don't get your hand off _Squid's_ arm, you won't be running into him again."

"Kerri, can I talk to you for a minute?" Squid asked her nervously.

"Sure," Kerri said to him looking at me thinking that he chose her over me.

I could here Squid talking to her, "Kerri, I am NOT Mandy's boyfriend. I never was and I never will be. Twist is my girlfriend."

I turned to him, "You said it!"

"Said what?"

"Girlfriend! You finally called me your girlfriend!" I gave jumped up and gave him a huge hug and a very passionate kiss.

When we pulled away Squid said, "I didn't know it meant that much to you; I would have said it sooner."

"Uh," Kerri scoffed walking away.

After another hour of clubbing we all decided to go back to the hotel. I went to bed that night with a huge smile on my face.

* * *

Mrs. St. John Allerdyce: Thanks for adding my story to your alert list!

Hey everyone! I'm trying to get as many chapters in as I can before I leave to No Internet Land. And I have to finish a long ass book for school starts over vacation, so I won't be writing much. Review!

Love always,

Dee


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The next morning, our alarm went off at 7 a.m. We got ready and then harassed the guys to get up too. We all walked down to the lobby together. Surprisingly we were the only ones in the lobby. We girls just sat down to eat breakfast, but the guys decided to stand around and do nothing.

Twitch disturbed our peaceful silence by ringing the bell on the check in/out desk. "Whoa, how cool is this?" He rang it repeatedly making a lot of noise for about thirty seconds. We were all looking at him plotting his death, but there was no one at the front desk.

"Go do something about him," TC commanded Hype.

"Why me?" she said acting all innocent.

"Why do you think?" Princess said.

"Fine," Hype said standing up and walking over to Twitch. "Dude, could you stop that?" She put her hand on top of the bell so he wouldn't ring it anymore, but it accidentally rang. "Whoa! That is pretty fun." Hype rang it over and over again for about ten more seconds.

"You are both rejects! Stop that!" Magnet said directly at the two of them.

"Come on Magnet, you know you want to," Twitch said.

"Just give it a try," Hype joined in.

"You guys are starting to sound dirty," Magnet said. Hype and Twitch just gave him exasperated looks. "Fine, I'll just ring the damn bell!" Magnet gets up and rings it once and then again and then three more times. "Whoa, this is fun."

"Told ya," Hype and Twitch chorused.

"I wanna try!" Dutchess said after throwing her trash away. She rang the bell and laughed.

I guess Twitch saw another bell on the other side of the counter, and he and Hype rang it together. It soon turned into a ringing of the bells competition between Twitch and Hype versus Magnet and Dutchess.

"You guys are going to get us into trouble! Can you stop?" Sarah pleaded. They ignored her.

X-Ray decided to come to her rescue, "Guys, stop."

"X-Ray is mean," Twitch sang.

"Twitch is a loser," X-Ray sang back.

"You're no fun," Hype said. "Just try it. It's fun."

"No I won't. You guys are so lame," X-Ray said crossing his arms.

The rest of us just rolled are eyes. Just as I turned back to eat my bagel, an angry bellboy comes to the front desk from a back room.

"Is there _something_ I can help you with?" he asked them irritated.

"Yes," Twitch answered. "How much for the bell?"

He gave Twitch the death glare.

"Ha ha," Twitch twitched nervously. "Never mind."

"So," Hype intervened. "You're a bell boy, huh?"

"Yes, I am," the poor bellboy answered.

"Cool, but that doesn't really make sense. You don't do anything with bells, and you're not a boy. You're an old man," Hype stupidly continued.

"Well, we have to go now," I said pushing them towards the door. "Pleas excuse my four little friends."

"Little?" Magnet said looking down at me.

"Shut. Up." I said at him.

"So," Caveman said. "What do you guys want to do today?"

"Hey! We should go explore the area," Rachel said.

There was a general 'okay' as the answer. As we walked out the door there was a high pitched squeal.

"Alan! Hunny, I missed you!"

I turned to Squid being hugged by this dyed beach blonde slut hanging off my boyfriend. It was obviously Mandy. I was trying not to go beat up this _thing_ hanging off Squid. Squid pushing her off of him and smiled awkwardly.

"Mandy? What are you doing here?" he said as though he already didn't know.

"Kerri invited me to come with her family on vacation. I didn't know you were here. What's it been? One and a half years?" she smiled at him. "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Um," he stuttered. He looked at me in desperation. I have to do _everything_.

"Hey, hun," I said walking up to him giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Mandy? What are you doing here?"

"Hello Emma," she said obviously upset that I was with Squid and she wasn't. Ha. "I am here on vacation. How do you know Alan?"

"I met him at 'camp'," I answered in fake happy talk. "We just kind of hit it off. Have you been having a good summer?"

"Yeah, you?" she said getting bored.

"Pretty good," I replied. "Well, we have to get going. Bye, Mandy." I put my arm around Squid's waist and lead him away. Once we were out of Mandy's hearing distance I looked up at him. "Now you owe me two."

"I am so sorry about her," he said very scared that I was mad at him. "She doesn't get the fact that we are actually not together. It has never sunk in."

"If she tries anything, I'll make sure it sinks in."

We had been walking for about fifteen minutes when we came upon a carnival.

"Oh my gosh," Sarah said. "We are so going in."

Before I could even answer her she ran in to buy a wristband. The rest of us followed buying our own wristbands. Squid and I were walking right behind Sarah, when I suddenly crashed into her because she decided to stop. I looked up and saw what she was looking at. It was The Great White Roller Coaster.

"I've been on this ride before," she said. "It was awesome! You go up a hundred feet and you go straight down!"

"Hey, count me out," I said.

"Oh come on Twist! Why not?" Squid said looking at me.

"It's because she's afraid of heights," Gia said in a sing-song way.

"NO!" I said. "Um, the altitude is just too high up for me."

"Please come," Squid to me. "For me?"

"I don't know," I said uncertainly.

Squid gave me his puppy dog face. I hate him.

"Fine! I'll go," I said going into the line with the rest of them.

I was in the second group to go on the coaster with Squid, Zero, Stranger, Gia, Lewis, Armpit, and Rachel. I unfortunately got to sit in the very front seat with Squid. The ride started clicking towards the top, I screamed. Squid laughed at me.

"Hey, is this ride safe?" Rachel yelled from the back.

"It's creaking! That can't be good!" Gia yelled too.

"Squid?" I yelled at him about ten feet from the peak.

"What?" he yelled back.

"You owe me THREE!" I half yelled half squealed as the cart went down.

I slowly stumbled out of the cart and found my way to a bench.

"Twist?" TC said bending down to my level.

I looked at her. "That was…AWESOME! But, can we go on the bumper cars next?"

"Okay," they all said recovering from my outburst.

We headed over to the bumper cars and everyone takes a separate car.

"Now," I said. "This is my type of ride. Where you stay on the ground the whole time."

I laughed as Sarah's car got stuck in the corner.

"Stupid thing!" she yelled. "You know what?" I watched as Sarah got up and walked across the entire area where everyone was driving and people swerved trying not to hit her. "That's right, you better not hit me little boy!"

While watching this display I didn't notice the speeding car coming towards me. As I got over the hit, I looked up to see Squid driving away from me. I started to chase him too, but I was distracted by Caveman. He was being chased by some girl.

"Who are you and why are you chasing me?" Caveman yelled at her.

"I'm Veronica and you're such a sexy guy!" the girl yelled back.

"I know you just didn't call him "sexy" you slut," TC said pulling up to her.

"The name's Veronica," the girl said back to TC.

"Did I ask? No don't think so," TC said getting really pissed off.

"Want to start something?" Veronica said. She was obviously not aware of TC's past.

"Please," TC said rolling her eyes. "You are so not worth my time. Just stay away from Caveman. Go home and eat something, I could snap you like a twig."

Veronica glares at TC and drives away. I look back up to find Squid again, but all I saw was X-Ray stuck in the middle and his car was surrounded by little kids and it was going in circles.

"Turn the wheel X-Ray!" Sarah screamed from the edge of the rink.

"Your name's X-Ray? Can't you see through people?" a little girl screamed at him.

"That's so cool! Can you see my bones?" a little boy said.

"No. No one can see through things," X-Ray said.

"Superman can!" the little boy said.

"Superman isn't real," X-Ray said.

The little boy narrowed his eyes and rammed into X-Ray's car. This was the first time I had seen X-Ray with a little fear in his eyes.

The ride ended soon after I had gotten Squid back from making my neck hurt. We got in line for the "log flume", which was a water ride. TC and Caveman were getting on their log when Veronica girl showed up.

"Oh no," Caveman says quietly getting in the log next to TC.

"Quick! Hide in the log!" TC says quickly to him.

I watched Caveman duck down as the ride moves forward, but I didn't see him come back up. I will have to ask TC about this when Squid and I get down there.

"Hey, how come you aren't freaking out about this ride?" Squid asked me.

"It's in water. I am not afraid of falling into water, just falling onto the ground," I said as we stepped into our log. The ride ended very quickly. I stepped out to ask TC what happened with Caveman.

"Oh, he finally came out when we were just about to go down the hill," TC told me. "I heard you screaming."

"Oh, that?" I said. "That wasn't me. That was defiantly Squid. Something about electricity and water."

When we all finished with the Log Flume ride we walked past a guy who looked depressed. The curious side got the better of me and I asked him what was wrong.

"My dunkee guy quit and nobody wants to substitute for him," the man said. I felt so bad for him.

"I have a brilliant idea! Oh Squid?" I yelled over at him.

"Oh no, you are not getting me on that," Squid said in his you-are-not-the-boss-of-me voice.

"If you do this for me, I'll consider this payment for all those you-owe-me statements," I said looking up at him.

After we got Squid onto the seat, I asked the man how much it was to play the game.

"$1 per ball," he told me.

I gave him a dollar, and aimed at the target. Squid held his nose and closed his eyes. I missed.

"Phew! Thank you. I was worried you were going to hit it, but I guess girls don't have as good of aim as guys," Squid said teasing me.

I fake laughed and walked up to the target and hit it with my hand. I watched as Squid submerged into the water.

When he came up he said, "Ah, it's freezing."

"Oops, I'm sorry. I guess girls can tolerate cold water better than guys can," I said batting my eyelashes at him.

"Ha," he said sitting back on the seat.

After thirty minutes of watching Squid getting dunked by little kids, I told the man running the operation I would have to steal him back. He thanked me happily and gave Squid a free towel once get got out of the tank.

"Wasn't that fun?" I said wrapping the towel around Squid.

"Tons," he said glaring at me.

"I'm sorry, but do want to go on the Love Boat now?" I said trying to make it up to him.

"Okay," he said quickly.

After waiting in line Squid being gentlemanly help me into the boat. He sat next to me and put his arm around me. We rode into the cove and I looked up at him and he looked down at me. He kissed me gently on the mouth and when he pulled away he looked into my eyes.

"Squid?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," he said looking away quickly.

I turned his head back towards me and kissed him passionately. I pulled away and looked up at him lovingly.

"I love you," I said resting my head on his shoulders. I felt him tense up. "Squid?"

"Yeah, me too," he said uncomfortably.

* * *

Inkinmyheart: Ha! My friend's would be dressing me up too. And doing my make-up and hair crazy like. Thanks for the review. 

RoonilWazzlib: There is about 50 girls in my school like Kerri. Gag much? Thank for the review.

SMACbaby: Thanks for the review and adding my story to your favorite and alert list.

jaeneedsmusic: Thanks for adding my story to your alert list.

V-Fly-Trap: Thanks for adding my story to your favorite and alert list.

Hey everyone!!!! I am so terribly sorry for not updating in like forever. Well this is probably my longest chapter, so hopefully that makes up for it. My last vacation sucked. We went to some lake, but the water was like 10 ft below regular level, so there was no point in getting in. The house we were staying at was infected with thousands of ants. Ew. Well, sadly school has started. Double ew. I have like tons of homework already so updating might be long waiting inbetween. Review!!!!!!

Love always,

Dee


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Oh you know.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

I was going insane. Why did Squid look at me like I was a mutant in disguise when I said I loved him. That was something ZigZag would do. Maybe I said it too soon; we have only been going out for a couple of months. Oh my God, I am so stupid. He probably is thinking about dumping me.

"Why can't I learn to keep my mouth shut!?!" I screamed through out the room.

"I don't know, but it's 4 a.m. So, please try to keep it shut," Princess mumbled from across the room.

"Sorry," I said putting my head back on my pillow. For the next hour I watched the clock, absorbed in my own thoughts. I don't remember having a dream that night, but I know if I did it would have been a nightmare.

The next morning at breakfast was extremely awkward. I hadn't told anybody what had happened and I needed to talk to Squid's best friend. This consequently was ZigZag. So, after throwing away what was left of my breakfast I went up to him.

"Hey Ziggy," I said trying to act cheerful.

"Twist," he said coldly to me.

"Hey," I said offended. "What did I do to you?"

"You know my secret," he said.

"Secret?"

"Don't act like you don't know," he said. He scanned the area before whispering in my ear. "That I like Princess." I couldn't help it, I brust out half crying half laughing. This obviously freaked the hell out of ZigZag because he slammed his hand over my mouth and gave me a look. "What is wrong with you?"

"That's what I came to ask you," I said pushing his hand away from my mouth.

"Huh? So, you didn't know about Princess?"

"No, but your secret's safe with me. Now, back to what I really came to talk to you about. What's wrong with me?"

"You cry loudly. Other than that nothing that I can think of."

"Then why didn't he say it back to me?"

"Why didn't who say what back to you?"

"Squid, he didn't say it back."

"Say what back?" ZigZag looked like he was getting annoyed.

"That," I scanned the area and leaned in close to ZigZag, "he loved me too."

ZigZag's eyes got humungous. "You said 'I love you' to Squid?"

"Yes," I answered. "We were on the love boat and I said it. And, he said 'Yeah, me too.' Not, 'I love you, too', just 'me, too.' What's wrong with me?"

"Ummm…"

"I'm sorry. It must be weird to talk about this. Squid and you are like best friends."

"Oh, no, I don't mind. Okay, first of all, before I tell you anything. Did you mean it?"

"Did I what?"

"Did you mean it? Do you really love him?" ZigZag asked me. I noticed immediately that there was a sort of an edge to the tone of his voice, as though he was looking for one answer and one answer only. I felt afraid, and even a tiny bit angry that he would begin to think I was lying. I realized thought that I would do the exact same if the tables were turned and he was asking me about Princess.

"Of course I meant it," I breathed, still somewhat taken aback. "I wouldn't say it unless I was sure."

I watched as ZigZag breathed out about ten tons relief. "Well, I know you know about Squid's past."

"Yeah, so? What would that have to do with this?"

"Well, everything. Don't you still think he has relationship issues? His mom told him she loved him, but then beat him. I don't think that 'I love you' are honest words in his mind at the moment."

"But, he should know I do. He should know me. I don't say things like that unless I mean them."

"Maybe he's afraid that you would, though. His mom did."

"I'm not his mother!"

"I know, I know," ZigZag said. He noticed I was about to cry again. "Hey, I know he loves you, but he doesn't. The last thing he would do intentionally is hurt you."

"He's doing that already."

"Just, give him some time," ZigZag said getting up and walking back to Princess. I had never seen that side of ZigZag, it was scary. But, it was what I needed; I knew Ziggy would be honest with me. I got up and walked over to Rachel and Sarah. Gia was with my brother.

"Hey, guys," I said. "How do you like the group so far?"

"They're strange," Sarah said.

"I like it," Rachel said.

"So, has anybody in particular caught your eye?" I asked in my sly manner.

"Actually, X-Ray has been exceedingly nice to me," Sarah said.

"Armpit's cool," Rachel said.

I looked at both of them. I just kept looking at them until Rachel cracked.

"Would you stop that?" she screamed.

"Ha. Ha," I laughed walking away. I was walking to the elevator when someone popped up beside me. I looked to see Squid standing beside me.

"Hey," I said pushing the up arrow button.

"Hey," he said back. "You sleep alright?"

"Yeah," I answered. "You?"

"Not really," he said as we entered the elevator.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I answered.

The elevator ride up was silent for the rest of the time. We exited out and before I entered my room and he entered his, we looked at each other and away. I sat down on the bed and fell back. I heard the door open. I looked to see Stranger standing there.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," Stranger told me. "What's up?"

"More like what's down. And the answer to that is everything. I hate love life. What's up/down with you?"

"Well, Zero and I are going to walk on the beach. You want to come?"

"No, you and Zero have fun. But not too much."

"What are you going to do?"

"I am going to order room service and take a long hot bubble bath. Then after that, I am going to talk a long walk on the beach."

"Well, have fun with that," Stranger said walking out of the room.

I sat up and looked around. I picked up the telephone and contacted the front desk.

"Hi, yes, could you please send up a pint of brownie fudge ice cream to room 208. Thank you, bye," I said before hanging up the phone. A few minutes later, a bellboy came up with my ice cream. I tipped him and started to run my bath water. I borrowed some of Dutchess' bubble bath and hopped in. I finished my pint and drained the tub. I got dressed and walked down to the beach.

I sat down on the edge of the shore, with the water barely touching my toes. I was thinking about how everything in my life was exceedingly great or horribly wrong. I pretty much got about everything I wanted, which is great. But, when I get it something goes wrong. Like with Squid. I wanted him, I got him, now I think I'm losing him. Life totally sucks. I watched the rolling waves. I think life is like a wave. It starts, then gets bigger and more grandiose, then it ends, abruptly. I noticed a figure slowly approaching me.

"Hello Squid," I said as the figure sat down beside me.

"Hey," he said. Then there was silence for about five minutes before he had to ruin the awkward moment. "We need to talk."

"What about?" I questioned softly, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Us."

"What about 'us'?"

"Twist, I've been thinking about you said to me yesterday."

"About love."

"That's it."

"What about it?"

He reached over and softly took hold of my hand within his. "I wanted to be sure, you know. To protect you."

"I understand," I said, feeling a little better about the subject now that she heard the words from his own mouth. "And I understand that you don't."

"No, that's not-"

"We _are_ just teenagers. I mean, it has to be kind of hard to identify when it's there."

"But, I-"

"And I'm not criticizing myself, here, because I've thought about it thoroughly and I'm positive that I love you."

"Twist-"

"But, I've always been one to identify things rapidly, without much problem. And I-"

"Twist, shut the hell up."

I looked at him with a shocked expression on my face.

He cleared his throat and said, "I love you, too."

I stared at him, trying to register his words, wondering if I'd heard him correctly. "You, what?"

"I love you," he repeated with more confidence this time, positioning himself beside me and taking her in his arms. "You're everything I am. You make me want to be the best I can be. You make me want the jump up and sing at the top of my lungs about how wonderful my life is and will be. I love you so much it hurts. And I couldn't live without you." He took a deep breath. "Please, don't make me."

"I would have settled for 'I love you' again," I said kissing him as passionately as I could.

* * *

JainaZekk621: Thanks for the review!

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Hello everybody. Ah the third week of school begins tomorrow. Joy. I hate my semester. And I absolutly hate World History. Shivers run up and down my spine everytime I walk down that hall. Algebra 2 is okay, but I usually like math a lot more than I do now. French is absolutly ridiculous. I usually aime francais, but my teacher is insane. She also happens to be my homeroom teacher, so I get double the insanity. Ah...only 170 school days until school is finished. REVIEW!!!!!!! Pretty please with a cherry on top. Thanks, have a good week.

Love always,

Dee


	12. Chapter 12

Okay, the winner of the poll was that most of you wanted Twist's pov. So here are the two previous chapters in Twist's pov, incase you wanted to read it. I tried to make the part where Twist confronts Zig a little more sensitive, so you could see it from her pov.

Thanks for voting!

* * *

Chapter Twelve

School, a time and place that provides everybody with a healthy, happy understanding of what the true meaning life and inspiration is, or not. It had been a couple of weeks since we had returned from the beach and into school. This was our third week into the school year and so far it had sucked. I looked the window and sighed: the school year was almost in full swing, meaning summer was about to disappear behind the corner to return in eight months. And in exactly eleven months and two weeks it would be the day that Squid broke my heart. Yes, he dumped me two weeks ago because, and I quote, "he doesn't want to get too emotionally attached."

"Miss Fletcher? Are you with us?"

I snapped out of my daydream and looked at Ms. Piper, who had a blond eyebrow raised in skepticism at TC.

"Er, yeah. I'm here."

Fourth period, American Studies. I had few friends in the class, especially since my well known Camp Green Lake experience, but TC was across the room and Squid sat right behind her, so I didn't feel too lonely.

"So? What is the answer?"

TC cleared her throat, "Uh…to what?"

A couple people in the class laughed softly, but stopped abruptly when Ms. Piper sent them all death looks.

"Pay more attention," she said harshly, then turned back to the overhead, where she was copying down the assignment for the night.

I watched her carefully, and then turned slightly to see TC whisper something to Squid. He laughed a little and said something back. I really wanted to know what she said to make him laugh. I was the one who used to make him laugh. TC turned back around and muttered something. The bell rang throughout the school signaling that it was time for lunch. I watched once again as TC practically knocked over her desk while leaping to her feet. I knew this was her very least favorite class, and the teacher hated her. Frankly, the feeling was incredibly mutual.

I walked out the room and caught up with TC and Squid. "Hey guys!"

"Hey," said Squid, putting on a forced smile, from what I could tell. The look of pain was seeping into my face, so I decided to say the first thing that came to my mind.

"So, lunchtime," I said. "The best time of day." How lame could I get? I reeled in a fake laugh; which I hoped sounded as real as possible. Squid joined in with some of his own phony chuckles. TC laughed loudly and clearly falsely, somewhat mockingly, in a struggle to display to me how stupid I was being. Squid and I stopped immediately, and I felt herself turning slightly red in embarrassment. Not surprising.

We parted from each other to drop some stuff off in our own lockers. Mine was a landfill. I opened it, stuffed in my history book and pulled out my algebra book, held some books in place, and slammed it quickly, before anything could fall out. Grinning in satisfaction, I slipped my backpack back on and turned. "Oh! Hey TC! I didn't see you standing there."

TC laughed, "You were so deeply in concentration on keeping everything in your locker, and I thought I'd wait 'til you were done." She smiled, "You ready for lunch?"

As if on cue, my stomach rumbled. "I was born ready," I responded.

On our exciting journey to the cafeteria, we talked about our very boring fourth period.

"Is it just me, or does Piper hate my guts with a passion?" TC questioned.

"It's not just you," I agreed. "She seems to love picking on you."

"Amen," she muttered. She grinned. "Today she was almost as vicious as that one day she nailed Squid for staring at you from across the room."

I nearly tripped at this. "What? When was that?" I asked anxiously, grabbing TC by the arm. Did Squid stare at me secretly? What if that meant he really did love me like he said on the beach less than a month ago.

TC laughed. "Never. It didn't happen. But I wanted to see what you would do. And I was right."

I slackened my grip on TC. He didn't stare at me during class. Who was I kidding? He didn't love me. But, I needed to find out what TC meant. "What? What were you right about?"

"You still have feelings for him. Major feelings."

"I do not," I lied as we rounded the corner. TC snorted.

"You always did suck at lying."

"I did not."

"Yeah, you did. You can never make eve contact, for one. And a lot of the time, you can't resist cracking a smile, whether you want to or not."

I stopped in her tracks and turned TC to face me, a serious expression on my face. "TC, you can't tell him. Or Stranger, or Hype, or Gia, or Rachel, or Caveman, or Zero, or – anybody, okay?"

"You have my word, Twist. But I think you should do something about it, instead of keeping it pent up."

"What would the use be?" I asked her. "It's not like he's any longer interested."

TC coughed purposefully. I sent her a sidelong questioning look. "What?"

"You're blind. And completely oblivious."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," said TC, as we entered the cafeteria. I shrugged it off as we approached our usual table. "Geez, you guys, it's about time," said TC as the last six came in. "You guys were running late."

"Well, we're here," Hype declared. The seats remained the same as usual. Sarah sat on one end, beside her sat Hype, then Twitch, then me, then the boy who stabbed me straight through my heart, then ZigZag, then Princess. On the other side of the table , on the same end as Sarah, sat X-Ray. The his side sat Stranger, then Zero, then Magnet, then Dutchess, then Gia, then Barfbag, then Rachel, and finally Armpit. It was always the same and unchanging. The seating chart was sacred.

"How's American Studies today?" Hype questioned TC, Squid, and I. She had it after lunch.

"Boring, as usual," TC said with a long sigh.

"Yeah, bring a pillow," I agreed.

"Did you get a detention yet?" Hype asked TC. She had heard horror stories of how much Ms. Piper hated her good friend.

"No, but I'd but my house that I'll get at least one by the end of the year. She won't let me go without something."

We all laughed.

"Glad to know that you all find my punishment so amusing," TC laughed.

"So, the chemistry test is pretty tough. I suggest you take a couple minutes during passing time to study," Hype added, glancing at me, she knew I wouldn't have even so much as glanced over my notes ahead of time.

"I'm not a studying person," I insisted. The more I cram, the more I tend to forget."

"Uh huh," Armpit said jokingly.

"Hey, you guys wanna come hang at my place after school?" Lewis said.

"_Our _house," I corrected him.

"Would your parent's mind?" Gia asked.

"Gia, do our parent's ever mind?" I said.

"Point made," Gia laughed.

"We can go chill at the mall or the movies or something, or just hang out at my house," Lewis said.

"_Our_ house, Lewis," I said.

"Sounds fun," said Caveman, sending a grin at TC, who smiled back.

X-Ray muttered something to his new best buddy Sarah. I so take credit on that.

"What was that?" Hype said.

"Nothing, nothing. We were merely commenting on how grand the school lunches are," Sarah covered, taking a large spoonful of Mashed Potato Surprise and feigning enjoyment. She forced himself to swallow, and coughed a few times. "Um, yum!"

The rest of us looked at her strangely as she began to turn a peculiar shade of green

"I'll be right back," she moaned, and leapt out of her seat and out the door.

"That what the Mashed Potato Surprise will do to you," Squid sighed.

I was walking home when I heard my brother's voice polluting my brain.

"Hey, Emma, wait up!"

I turned and saw Lewis jogging towards me. As he neared, he slowed his pace down a little. I forced a smile. "Hey."

"What's up?"

"Nothing really." I looked behind him and saw that he was, indeed, quite alone.

"Where's Gia?"

"Walking with Princess," said Lewis. As if reading my mind, he added, "We're not _always_ together, you know."

"Could have fooled me," I muttered.

Lewis stopped, and took hold of my arm when I didn't stop, too. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry. It just feels unfair, I guess."

"What?"

"I mean, you, Princess, Hype, and TC are my very best friends. You have Gia and vice versa. Princess has ZigZag even though she doesn't know it. TC has Caveman. Hype has Twitch. I have nobody."

"What about Squid?"

"We're over," I said firmly. "Why isn't anybody getting that?"

"Why aren't _you _or _him_ getting that you're _not_ over?" Lewis demanded. "Emma, c'mon."

"Let's change the subject, please," I insisted. "Is ZigZag gonna ask Princess out soon, or what?"

"Why are you asking me? Do I look like ZigZag to you?" he asked with a grin. I rolled my eyes.

"I figured he would have said something to you. But I guess I take that as a no."

"Yeah, well, if you're asking my opinion, I think that he _should_ ask her out. I don't know if it's gonna happen though. I mean, ZigZag my brother and all that crap, ya know, but he's a jerk about this thing. He doesn't want the whole commitment deal or whatever."

"Yeah, well, I say you're being a slight hypocrite," I countered.

He glanced at me. "What?"

"I seem to remember how you stressed over asking Gia out. It took you half a year for you to say a single word to her."

"This is different. ZigZag _knows_ how in love with him Princess is. He just doesn't like to see it. And I seem to remember you telling me that you would castrate me if I asked Gia anything about a relationship. That's why I stressed, I wasn't sure if you were serious or not."

I sighed. "Everything is just so messed up in the group right now."

Lewis stopped walking again and looked at me with a seriously scary expression. "Emma, are you going to be okay?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, continuing to walk. Lewis, again, had to take me by the arm and stop me.

"Would you quit pretending not to notice that I'm not walking anymore?" he demanded. This is the second time you've done that."

"Lewis, let me go. I don't wanna talk about this."

"You're acting ridiculous."

"Excuse me?"

"You know, failure to accept the truth? Pushing your friends away?" he egotistically began to fix his hair and flashed a cheesy grin. "Especially your _best_ friend?"

"I'm not talking about this again," I sighed, and again attempted to walk away, but my oh so protective brother stopped me.

"Quit ignoring me," he said sternly. "I'm not even joking."

I turned and looked at him. If he wanted to have an intimate twin moment with me, then he could have it. "Fine. You want me to talk? Let's talk." I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him over to a nearby bus-stop, shoved him down onto the bench, and placed my hands on my hips. "I love Squid. Yet, he isn't interested in getting too emotionally attached to me. I mean, he said this when we broke up two weeks ago. But, also, it seems to me that love qualifies quite a lot as emotional attachment, which would mean he has been emotionally attached to me since vacation. So that confuses me. Although, I pretended to agree with him; even though I seriously didn't. But anyway, it also means that he doesn't want to be with me; which means there's nothing I can do except sit around and whine about how much I love him and complain about the lack of return of that particular emotion. Or, I can forget about it, and move on. It's your choice, whether you want me to be happy or you want me to sit here and annoy you to death with my feelings." I took a deep breath after such a rapid explosion of emotions. "There. Are you happy now?"

Lewis was staring at me quite surprisingly. Finally, he cleared his throat and adjusted his sitting position. "Sorry, took me a minute to register and begin to understand all of that. So here's the way I see it. Your thoughts are that Squid doesn't want to be with you, because of his explanation about emotional attachment of whatever. Right?"

"Right," I confirmed with a nod.

"But you also spoke about how _you_ pretended to agree with him on the topic. Right?"

"Right," I repeated uncertainly.

"There you have it, then. You lied to him."

I hesitated. "So? What's your point?"

"My point is, have you ever stopped to wonder if maybe he's lying to you, _too_?"

Again, I hesitated to respond right away, but finally shook my head in confusion.

"Why would he lie about something like that?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Why would you?"

I studied my brother's face for a moment, and then turned away towards the sky in deep concentration. Lewis was looking at me in his I-really-do-love-you stare curiously, and then spoke up again.

"Hey," he said gently, knocking me out of me thoughts. He patted the empty space beside him on the bench in indication for me to take a seat. I paused briefly, but did so anyway.

"Yeah?" I questioned.

"Look, Emma," he began seriously. "You're just like a sister to me, hey, you are my sister. I mean, even through everything going on with Squid this summer, you still managed to pull other people into their current relationships. And that was the act of a true, true friend. Now, in my eyes, you're a great person, one of the best, and I think that you deserve happiness. And Squid makes you happy. And even though he's my friend and I can't stand the thought of you and him together; I think you should talk to him."

"What do I say? I asked nervously, staring at my hands which I had folded uncertainly in my lap.

He shook his head. "I'm not sure. Just tell him what you feel. It worked for me." He flashed another cheesy grin at her. I laughed a little and pulled him into a hug. He returned the gesture.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Any time for my little sister," he agreed jokingly, as they pulled apart. "I _would_ talk to Squid _for_ you, but these days if seems that the only person he trusts about any topic on much of anything is ZigZag. I'm not sure why. But I always see them talking, and whenever I question ZigZag about it, he goes all distracted on me and says he can't say anything because of spies are around."

I paused to think about what was just said, and then asked, "Do you think ZigZag would tell me anything?"

Lewis shrugged. "I highly doubt it. You can give it a try, though. You're smarter than most, so you can probably find a way to trick him into saying something."

I grinned. "Sounds good to me."

"You'd better head over there, though, because everyone decided to go over there instead at five to hang out for the night. And it's-" he checked my watch, "-already three." You might need a bit of time to weasel something out of that kid."

"All right," I agreed. "I'll see you at five, okay?"

"Right. I'll tell mom and dad where you are. Good luck," he said, rising to his feet.

I smiled. "I won't need good luck, Hey, it's me."

"Now that's the Emma we know and love," Lewis said rolling his eyes.

"That's right, bye Puke Bucket!" I said using my new pet name for him, turning onto ZigZag street.

"Whatever Tornado!" He is so uncreative.

I was walking down ZigZag's street and saw him sitting on top of the railing on his porch.

"ZigZag? Can we talk?" I asked.

He sighed. "Yeah, sure. What about?" he asked me.

"Squid," I explained. I paused at the bottom of the staircase, awaiting permission to ascend.

ZigZag nodded. "Yeah, sure, c'mon up, what's up?"

"ZigZag, there's something I have to know about Squid, and you're going to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

"So help me God?" ZigZag joked. I lightly hit him in the shoulder, trying to hide my smile.

"Seriously. I need you to tell me the truth."

ZigZag paused, and nodded. "I can't make any promises, Twist, but I'll do my best."

Satisfied enough by this answer, I nodded as well. "Where does he want to stand with me?" I asked.

ZigZag hesitated yet again, and then looked up at the clouds. "_That_, my dear, is why I refused to make any promises to you."

I sighed. I knew that I was going to have difficulties in getting much of anything out of ZigZag, but I also had thought of a way to pull it out of him on the way over. It was cruel, but I thought it needed to be believable, and Lewis is always going on about how I exaggerate. I just hoped it wasn't to mean. I let my acting talent take control of my body, and gave into the drama.

"I knew it," I declared, summoning the tears from the ducts in the corners of my eyes. "He hates me." I rose to her feet. "What's the point in living, Ziggy? How can I go on when the one guy I've ever loved chooses to throw me away like yesterday's trash?"

I glanced back at him. On his face was surprise at this sudden outburst of emotion coming from me. He stood up, as well. "Twist, it isn't like that at all."

I turned to him, wiping away the fake tears from my cheeks and giggling at little in my heart out on the inside. "Then what is it like? Does he still love me?"

"Of course," ZigZag offered. I saw the light bulb in his head click with the realization of what a chuck of information he had just fed to the object of his sympathy. Frantically, he tried to cover it up. "I mean, no. I mean, oh crap."

I stopped pretending to cry and smiled at him. "Thank you kindly, Sir Ziggy," I said with mock innocence, and began to walk down the stairs.

"Twist! I can not believe you," ZigZag declared.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just so unbelievable," I said. ZigZag smiled a little. Which I took as a good sign that he wasn't too mad at me.

"That is going to get you in trouble someday, you know."

"Oh, c'mon, Ziggy, it's no big deal. Don't worry about it. My lips are sealed. Nobody will have to know that you said a word to me."

He sighed. "Good, because then they will know if I ever need to be questioned all they have to do is get a girl to fake cry. Hey, what are you going to do with the knowledge you snuck out of me? Were you just acting when you said you loved him, too, or did you truly mean it?"

I nodded. "Oh, I meant it. No doubt about that. Don't worry; I've got it all under control." She smiled. "Thanks again, Ziggy," I commented sincerely, and continued down the stairs.

I walked down the street back to my house, hoping that ZigZag knew that I needed to do that to put ease to my mind. Now, that I had confirmed that Squid did love me, I had to decide how to put use to this information.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

I hopped up into Lewis's room, a new sort of spring in my step. I had promised him I'd let him know what happened at ZigZag's, so I had taken the liberty to swing by his room on the way to mine. I knocked on the door frame to signal I was there.

He looked up, "Hey! What happened?"

"With ZigZag?"

"No, last night, at one o'clock am," Lewis said sarcastically. "Of course, with ZigZag."

"You were right," I said dieing a little inside. I had vowed that I would never say that again. "He was protective of the information, but it was pretty easy to sneak it out of him. I feel a little guilty though."

"Green Lake has taught Emma the fine arts of dishonesty, such a bad influence."

I laughed, "Nah. Anyway, you wanna know what I found out, or not?"

"Sure," he confirmed.

"Well, he pretty much straight out told me that Squid still loves me."

"There. See?" Lewis said. "All that worrying for nothing. So what are you going to do about it?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I kind of figure if he _really_ loved me, he'd approach _me_…"

"Oh no, you're _not_ going to do that," Lewis groaned. "You have all the information you need to make the next move. And you're gonna drop out? You really _are_ a psycho.

"I seem to remember someone else having all the information he needed and still not acting upon it," I said with a purposeful cough.

"What are you talking about?"

"Never mind. You're too dense to get through to."

"What?"

"Nothing," I laughed. "I'm out, you wanna pick up Gia on the way to Ziggy's in an hour?"

"Nah, Magnet and me are going to walk there together," he said shutting his door in my face.

I stepped into my room and decided to take a nap. I would wake up in about forty-five minutes.

_I hate everything about you_

_Why do I love you?_

_I hate everything about you_

_Why do I love you?_

My eyes sprang open at the sound of Three Days Grace blasting through my speakers. I fluttered my eye sight to the clock, which indicated that forty-five minutes had indeed passed since I fell asleep. I dragged myself off the bed and into the bathroom. I retouched my make-up, brushed my teeth and hair, and walked down stairs and on the side walk. I headed to go pick up Gia. She hopped slipped into step with me and we headed to ZigZag's. I filled Gia in with every single thing that happened between ZigZag and me this very afternoon.

"You did what?" Gia said.

"I had to know," I said now feeling a little ashamed.

"And you didn't figure it about by all of us saying it to you?"

"Did Squid tell you directly that he still loved me?"

"Well, no. But-"

"Well, he said it to ZigZag. So, that's who I needed to hear it from. Case closed."

We pulled into ZigZag's driveway, and walked up to his door. I rang the doorbell. ZigZag swung the door open.

"Where'd you send my brother and Magnet?" I said pointing to them as they headed down the street in the opposite direction.

"Um, I had to send them on an errand," ZigZag explained. "Come in." He said further, opening the door widely to allow them space to enter. They looked at each other, puzzled, and stepped into the house.

"Where's Squid?" I asked right off the bat, looking around. Squid was usually on time for things.

"Uh, I dunno," ZigZag said with a forced laugh. He was very bad a lying, but I decided to let it slide. "Um, you girls want some cola? We have cola, cola would be nice, wouldn't it?" He didn't even give Gia or I time to answer, just bolted out of the room.

"What's up with _him_?" Gia question, half amused, half confused.

I shook my head, my eyes rooted to the spot where he had just been standing. "I have no idea. But he seemed to get all nervous when I brought Squid up."

"Don't worry about it," Gia said. "You said he was the only one who Squid really talked to about you, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"And, you said you weaseled some information out of him earlier?"

"Yeah."

"So, he's probably afraid you're gonna trick him into saying something dumb again. Don't worry."

I nodded in agreement, seeing the logic in Gia's statement.

An hour later, everyone had arrived. Accept, Sarah, Lewis, Squid, and Magnet. We weren't really doing anything. I was watching TC and Caveman play…

"Got any twos?" TC asked.

Caveman sighed, "Go fish."

TC picked up a card from the pile and looked over her hand of the deck at ZigZag. Sighing in defeat, she set her cards on the table.

"ZigZag, what is going on?" TC asked him.

"What do you mean?" he asked abruptly. Too abruptly.

"You're pacing. And, four people are missing," Caveman explained reasonably, setting down his own cards and gesturing to the lack of a party. "You're the host. Try entertaining your guests."

ZigZag sighed. "Look, you guys, I'm sorry, there's just a lot of going on."

"A lot that you don't feel obliged to share with us? You're usually strange, but right now you are down right freaky," Gia said. "Come on, ZigZag, we're your friends. They're our friends. Tell us."

"Calm down," Princess insisted.

"To be honest? I have no idea what's going on. All I know is that Sarah is with Squid, and Barfbag is with Magnet, all right?"

"Squid is with Sarah?" I asked, trying to make my voice sound less jealous and more confused. "Why? What's going on ZigZag?" I demanded standing.

"I don't _know_," ZigZag repeated.

"Oh, by the way, I meant to ask you," X-Ray voiced to Twitch. "Was someone like, enjoying prank phone calling earlier? Because I got a call from some guy and I guess your name was mentioned, apparently."

"Are you sure my name was mention?" Twitch asked, confused as to why someone would call X-Ray about him.

"No, actually my brother answered the phone. He said it started with a T."

"Was it Twist?"

The rest of the party looked at me. "What could someone possibly want to tell X-Ray about me?" I reasoned.

"Hard to say," Princess responded.

"That's weird that you bring that up," I said at last. "Because I talked to Lewis before I came over here, and he got a strange phone call from a guy, too. He said the voice sounded familiar. Almost like…Squid."

"Do you think it was Squid on the phone?" ZigZag asked X-Ray anxiously. "Asking you for Twist?"

"Dude, he wouldn't ask about Twist to me unless he was like, drunk," X-Ray laughed.

When nobody else did, he stopped, and the possibilities hit him head-on. He didn't realize what that statement meant to ZigZag and me.

"Oh, crap," I said in sync with ZigZag.

I raced over to the door and down the street in the direction of Squid house. I ran the whole ten minutes to his house, and up to the door, and started barely had enough energy to knock on it. I opened the door and whispered inside.

"Squid? Sarah?"

There was no answer. I saw there was no car in the driveway when I ran up it. Slowly, I made my way inside, glancing around for my friends.

"Guys?"

"Shh," said Sarah, coming down the stairs.

"Where's Squid?" I asked frantically.

"He's upstairs, resting," Sarah explained. "What's up?"

"Is he okay?" I inquired.

"Why wouldn't he be?" Sarah asked, attempting to play dumb.

"Sarah, don't even try it," I insisted. "Over at ZigZag's, the fourteen of us managed to put our heads together quite well," I continued. "And we figured it out. Squid is drunk. _Why_ is Squid drunk, Sarah? I need to talk to him, I need to see him."

"Emma," Sarah stated, stepping in front of the stairs to keep me from ascending. "He's doing fine. Stop. He needs to rest."

"But why? Why did he do it?" I asked her. "Please tell me." I said about to cry.

Sarah sighed. "He's having a hard time dealing with his family, and not to mention _you_."

"Me?" I whispered.

"Let's not even get into it," Sarah persisted. "Go on home, Em."

"Why are you suddenly his best friend?" I demanded. "Treating me as though I'm, like, lower than low. Let's get something straight. I didn't do anything to him. He was the one who wanted to break up. If he doesn't now, then, well, he should say something to me."

I was getting really pissed off. How come Squid had told Sarah about his family problems? He hadn't even known her for more than a month or so. I felt as though an intimate detail of his life that was a connection between him and me had been snapped. Sure, ZigZag knew, but they were best friends.

She sighed. "If you wake him up, now, he'll have a hard time getting back to sleep, and he'll get sick again. Please, just come back tomorrow."

I sighed, and lowered my head in defeat. "Fine," I whispered, and slowly exited the Smith's house, my worries higher then they had been before.

* * *

Well, there it is. Hope y'all enjoyed. I realize that it does sound a lot better with Twist's pov. It just...flows. Ha. I'M GOING SHOPPING FOR MY HOMECOMING DRESS TOMORROW! It's going to be awesome! Well, happy reading until next time. Review!

Love always,

Dee


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

I sighed, walking up the stone steps of ZigZag's porch. Since it was already late fall, it was starting to become dark, even at this hour of six thirty. I felt almost as if I'd failed Squid; and I understood why Sarah stopped me from seeing him. And I definitely didn't want to make him suffer at all. Rest was the best thing for him right now; and I knew it.

As if sensing that I had returned, ZigZag's front door swung open, the welcoming sign nearly sailing off its nail. There he stood, looking quite obviously impatient. "Hey," he greeted. "What happened?"

"Sarah's sitting with him," I explained. "He's resting."

"So, did you talk to him?" he pressed.

I paused, and shook my head.

"What? Why not?" ZigZag demanded.

"Ziggy, the poor guy is at risk of a hangover. Give him a break; I wasn't going to go barging into his room, insisting to see him."

ZigZag hesitated, but nodded. "That makes some sense, I guess," he agreed with a small shrug. His eyes seemed beyond distressed, though. "C'mon back in," he offered, opening the door a little wider. I took him up on this offer, stepping into his house. He shut the door behind me.

"What happened?" asked Princess immediately.

I shrugged. "Nothing, really. I didn't even talk to him."

"What? Why?"

"You guys, let's not get into it," Gia covered for me seeing that I didn't want to talk about it. "We'll discuss it later."

The party seemed to agree with this, although hesitantly.

"You never told us where Lewis and Magnet are," X-Ray pointed out.

"Right here."

We all turned and saw the aforementioned boys walking in throught the door, shutting it behind them.

"How'd it go?" ZigZag inquired right away.

"Um…_strange_," Magnet supplied. "But we succeeded in keeping them there for almost an extra hour. Plus right now they're off somewhere looking for their car."

"Who? What?" TC asked very confused. I shared the feeling.

"Very good, good job," ZigZag congratulated.

"You want to explain _why_ we had to do it in the first place?" Lewis asked him, his tone somewhat irritable.

"Hmmm?" ZigZag pretended to play dumb.

"ZigZag, we just spent an hour holding up Squid's mom and her boyfriend at a Big Boy restaurant. Magnet even dressed up in waiter's clothes, and forced dessert upon them, serenaded Squid's mom, and I had to monitor him from behind a tree, and announce over the PA hat their car was being towed away, and-" Lewis took a deep breath. "It was a long night, it was quite a long night. So why don't you take out a couple seconds of your busy schedule to explain why the heck we did it."

"I'll explain it to you later," I mumbled to my brother, rubbing my temples. Lewis turned to me, studying me carefully.

"You all right?"

"Fine, fine."

Lewis, for the first time since he'd really walked in, looked around the room completely.

"Where are Squid and Sarah?" he asked.

"Occupied," ZigZag offered briefly, rubbing the bridge of his nose in aggravation.

"Occupied? What are you? A secretary?" Magnet asked jokingly.

"It's _complicated_," ZigZag hissed. "I really would rather not get into it right now." With that, even though we were in his house, ZigZag walked away and up his stairs. The rest of us heard his bedroom door slam from their position there in the living room.

"What happened is hard on him right now," I explained. I didn't want to bring up the Princess had something to do with his attitude, as well. That wasn't my place.

Lewis sighed and turned to Gia. "Here, I'll walk you home."

"All right. C'mon," she agreed. She turned to me. "You might as well come along too, since you do reside with him."

"Later, guys," Lewis said turning towards the door grabbing Gia's hand.

The rest of the group ad-libbed their good-byes, as we walked out the door.

We dropped Gia off at her house, and Lewis and I headed towards our home.

"You going to tell me what happened?" he asked me.

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose with my free hand. "It's complicated."

Lewis stopped walking and turned to face me. "It can't be good, otherwise, it wouldn't be so hard for you to just say."

I looked at him, and looked back down at my feet, mumbling a response.

"What?" Lewis asked.

"Squid got drunk," I saild louder, with more edge in my voice. Again, we sat in silence.

"Squid? _Drunk_?" Lewis added in shock. Even though my brother didn't know why it was such a big deal, he still knew that it wasn't a mild issue. "Wow," he muttered.

"I know," I whispered. Lewis studied my face for a few moments.

"I'm sorry," he breathed supportively. He pulled me into a loving hug, I pulled away though. I didn't want to break down in front of him, even though he had seen me cry, he'd never seen me have a nervous break down.

"Don't worry about it," I reassured, gesturing to him that I wanted to continue walking. He followed my lead, and again we were silent, until we were at our house.

"Everything going to turn out fine, Emma," Lewis said before I headed up the stairs to go to bed.

"I hope," I said.

* * *

xyour momx: thanks for adding my first story to your favorite list.

Ribbon-chan03: thanks for adding my story to your alert list.

Grace Tempest: thanks for adding my first story to your favorite list.

Hey everybody! Well, this isn't exactly my best chapter, but I wrote it in a rush. I have to get ready for homecoming. Which is going to be awesome (I hope). I just watched Because I Said So. It made me laugh so hard. If you haven't seen it, you should. Well, I'll try to update tomorrow too, but no promises. Review please!

Love always,

Dee


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"Oh my god!" I screamed sitting up in my bed. I had just woken up from the worst possible dream that I could possibly had. Squid was going out with Mandy, and everyone was telling me that it was always going to be like that. I was breathing heavily, and saw that my alarm was about to go off in five minutes. I had that freaky habit of waking up right before my alarm went off. I slid out of my bed and went down stairs to make my usual bowl of cereal for breakfast. I didn't have to make my parents breakfast or any other meal anymore because the finally found a maid for us.

On my way down the hall I did my daily routine of trying to wake Lewis up by banging innocently on his door. In reply, I heard my usual "Go away brat" greeting.

As I was eating my Cocoa Puffs, I was thinking about my nightmare of a dream. Squid turned around at me and told me that I was never in his heart and that Mandy was the perfect girl for him. Then, he pulled Mandy into kiss him, and then I woke up. Why was he putting me through this pain and misery? I mean according to ZigZag he still loved me, but ZigZag also thinks that flamingos are dyed pink in a laboratory. But, he was still Squid's friend. He knew him better than anybody, probably even Squid himself.

I walked back upstairs, casually banging on Lewis' door as I passed it. A grunt was my answer. In my room once again, I dressed, put my face on, and walked out again. Lewis was up finally, and we got in the car to go to school.

"You look awful," I told him as I did every morning.

"The feeling of disgust on appearances is mutual," he responded as we pulled into Gia's driveway.

She bounded into the backseat giving Lewis a kiss on the cheek. Her daily ritual and it made my stomach turn.

We turned into the school parking lot and I got out of the car and left Gia and Lewis to their usual morning make out session. Gross, I know. I walked into the school and dropped my stuff off in my homeroom. Unfortunately, I shared a homeroom with the girl haunting my dreams, and she sat right behind me. She was one of many who feared and shunned me from the social events that went on through out the school. It was weird because less than a year ago I was pretty much everybody's friend. Now, everybody thought I was some common criminal, and they shunned me for it. I hate high school.

I left the room quickly and headed towards the cafeteria where I knew Stranger and Hype would be fueling their stomachs. Sure enough, when I came through the doors they were there. Stranger looked like she was about to fall asleep and Hype was scarffing down her chicken biscuit.

"Hey guys," I said sitting down with them. "Lovely day isn't it? I bet you guys can't wait for the usual awkwardness of everybody staring at us during class and hard times we get from the teachers even though they are supposed to be unbiased."

"The way you say that makes it sound as if we were in paradise," Hype said through a full mouth of food.

"Chew and swallow," Stranger said. "What if Twitch came in and saw the contents of your mouth."

"I am sexy no matter how I'm acting," Hype said sticking her tongue further out of her mouth.

"Maybe, but to us it is disgusting," I said making a face.

The bell went off signaling that we had about five minutes to get to homeroom. And since my homeroom teacher hated my guts I had about one to get across the school and into my seat. I ran down the halls and crashing into someone. I got up and brushed off my butt, and looked up to see one of my old guy friends.

"Hey Dylan," I said. "Sorry about that."

"That's okay. I have to go," he said scampering off far away from me as he possibly could.

"Hey! I know stuff about you that could ruin your life here!" I screamed after him. I hated people like that. I am so glad that Rachel, Gia, and Sarah stuck with me through the whole Green Lake thing. That was a true test on who was your true friend.

I hurried into my homeroom and into my seat.

"You are late, Miss Robinson," Ms. Bewler said.

"But the bell hasn't even rung yet," I said trying not to get another detention today.

"The bell doesn't tell you when to be in your seat or when to leave, I do."

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"I hope not, but just to make sure that the message sinks in a little further that you need to be on time, you can come to Saturday school this week-end."

"Yes, ma'am," I said through gritted teeth.

"_Please stand for the pledge of allegiance,"_ the principle's voice sounded over the PA.

We all stood for our daily oath to the country, and then sat in a moment of silence afterwards.

"_Okay students, as you know Homecoming is next week-end! Monday's spirit day is Scrub Day. So put on your hospital gear and 'scrub up' for learning!"_

Our principle is insane.

"Your not _really_ thinking about showing your face at Homecoming this year, are you?" Mandy's snake-like hiss sounded through my brain. I may have to get it removed, or her.

"Why shouldn't I? I've gone every year," I said casually.

"Because, in case you haven't noticed: nobody wants you there or your juvie friends."

"In case _you_ haven't noticed: I. Don't. Give. A. Shit."

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Trust me, I won't."

The first bell rang signaling that my first class would start in about ten minutes. That bell was my morning savior. I hurried down the crowded hallways of Houston High, and into the icebox this school calls a classroom. My first class of the day was a slack class; it was a Home Economics type class. I wasn't allowed to cook without a partner. The teacher feared that I would go psycho and chop the class. So, what I did was sit there and _watch_ the lucky duck who got the honor of being my cooking buddy. I must admit, it was a little entertaining seeing people fear me.

"Okay, Emma's partner today will be…Dylan," Ms. Murphy said looking at the roster.

Ah, Dylan. The same Dylan that ran away from me this very morning. Karma's a bitch. I stood up and skipped over to my victim of the hour.

"Hey, Dylan," I said bouncing up next to him.

He looked at me like I was going to chop him up into itty-bitty pieces.

"If you don't get that look off your face, I'll do whatever you're thinking about. Only, I'll do it more creatively," I threatened. "Dylan, you've known me since pre-K. I'm not going to go psycho on you with a butcher knife."

This didn't calm him down. Ah! I hate this!

"We are supposed to making brownies," I said reaching over to grab the bowl. His eyes got as big as quarters, what did he think I was going to do with a bowl?

"Dude, relax. You can make them yourself if you feel uncomfortable having me do it. Because I know that you're probably thinking that I'm going to somehow poison the batter. Why are you in a chick class anyway? I'm just in here because I was placed late."

He ignored my question, and just made the brownies. He may be strange, but he can make delicious baked goods. I cleaned up, because it was unfair that he can to do all the cooking by himself and then have to do the clean up too.

Again, I had to run to my American History class. At least the teacher didn't displace all of her angry and misery onto me. She shared it between TC, Squid, and me. Crap…Squid. I totally forgot he was in that class. Weird, right? One would think that I would remember him in a class. I stepped into the room just in time to hear Ms. Piper reprimanding TC for something.

"I don't care that you think that giving me the only pop quiz is fair! I'm refusing to take it, unless the whole class takes it," TC said crossing her arms in front of her.

"Charlotte Fletcher, you won't be the only one taking this," Ms. Piper said. "Emma and Alan will be accompanying you on this quiz. You three have the three worst grades in my class, and I'm giving you this chance to raise your grade."

"Do you realize that we have the three worst grades because you treat us differently than the rest of the class?" TC said trying not to yell.

"I do not, I treat all of my students the same," Ms. Piper said defending herself.

"Like hell you do," I mumbled.

"What was that Miss Robinson," Ms. Piper said directing her attention to me.

"You know what? I'm tired of always having to be treated differently because I went to a detention center," I said walking in front of the class. I couldn't believe I was about to do this. "Okay, I went to Camp Green Lake because I screwed up. It's not like I do drugs, drink, or whatever. I used to be most of you guy's friend. What? Just because I beat some freak up because they were trying to kidnap me, I lose points on your popularity scales. All of you are freaking idiots and posers. You all said you'd be my friend no matter what, and then I screw up and you at like I'm a mutant. Dylan, you were one of my best guy friend's last year. And today, I bump into you in the hall and you runway like I'm gonna pop a cap in you. You think I might have changed, but in reality you guys did." I looked at all of them. Most of them looked at me like I was out of my mind; the others looked away from me. I scoffed and walked out of the room.

As soon as I stepped into the hall I burst out into sobs. I slid down to the floor and just let all the sounds of my sobs carry through the hall.

* * *

JainaZekk621: Thank for the review!

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Hey everyone! I was writing this all week, so I hope you like it. Well, I'm off to go buy my hair dye! Reveiw! I think at least five is a reasonable request.

Love always,

Dee


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"Welcome to Saturday School. You are all here because you were being a nuisance to your authority figures. Rule number one: no food. Rule number two: no drinks expect for water. Rule number three: no talking. If you must go to the restroom; too bad. There will be two five minute breaks during the eight hour period you will be here. And what will you be doing during the duration of those eight hours. You will be doing either homework or write a ten page essay on why you should obey the rules we give you for your own good," Ms. Mason said in her usual monotone voice. "I will be across the hall in my office. I hear one sound coming from this room; you will all have Saturday School for next week also."

I looked around the room to see who was serving this unreasonable punishment with me. Some guy, some girl, TC, and Squid. TC and Squid were in here for the same reason after I left Ms. Piper's room, they ran out after me and she gave one to them for 'skipping'.

I dug my French notebook from my backpack and started to work on the irregular verb review sheet she gave us. I felt a presence of a welcome but unwelcome boy staring at me. I casually looked behind me and saw Squid quickly look away.

"_It was just your imagination,"_ I thought to myself. _"Squid broke up with you, why would he being staring at you?"_

I returned to my conjugations, and felt the same feeling of being watched again. _"Ignore him, Ignore him with all the strength you can,"_ I thought once again.

"You know you can't ignore him forever, right?" TC said slipping over to my table.

"Yes, I can," I retaliated looking sideways at her.

"You can not. Stop resisting the fact that you and him were meant to be together and then it actually happen."

"Stop telling me what to do about something that doesn't exist. Now, you aren't supposed to be over here, go back to your seat. The teachers already hate us enough as it is, we don't want to make an excuse for them to."

"Fine, fine. But, while you're over here think about what you're going to do about this 'nothing'."

"Whatever, TC."

"_Il __faut __que __je __lui __dise __que __je __s'aime__,"_ I thought as I rewrote my French homework from the textbook. _"What? That's a freaky coincidence." _I had just written 'I have to tell him that I love him.' _"No, that's not what you think it is. It is just something that you had to translate for homework. Don't get excited. If he did love you, he would have told you by now. But again, Lewis said that he lied and so did I and he probably thinks that I hate his guts. But that is so far from the truth."_

Time actually went by quickly and before I knew it, it was lunch time. I pulled out my brown bag and took the PB&J sandwich I made this morning. Ms. Mason left with her usual parting phrase "No talking." I chewed and thought and chewed and thought some more.

"Lunch is over. I have a doctor's appointment, so you get to leave early today," Ms. Mason said coming back in and leaving quickly.

I stood up and walked towards the door. I stopped when I got outside because I heard calling my name. It was Squid. I continued to walk when he caught up, we walked in silence for about two minutes before I spoke up.

"Squid?" I said hesitantly.

"Yea," he said.

"What…What exactly happened the other night?"

Exactly the question I guess he didn't want me to ask because he gave a small sigh and said, "It doesn't matter."

"But it does," I insisted, taking his arm to prevent his intentions of walking away. He studied my face; I hope he saw the sincerity in it. I really did care about him; why couldn't it surface so he could be one hundred percent reassured?

I sighed when he was too lost in his thoughts to respond. "Squid, it matters. You know how much I care about you, I'd do anything for you. And I hate seeing you hurt. Sarah wouldn't tell me a thing. I would-I would really like it if you enlightened me."

"I was everything," he concluded, sighing and taking a seat on a nearby bench. "School, Mom and her new boyfriend, and…you," at this he looked for the reaction on my face. I was struggling to keep it neutral; although I did wince my eyes a little at his statement. "I don't know. It's hard to explain."

"You've never tried," I deadpanned. He glanced at me questioningly. "That was one of the contributions to our downfall," I decided, trying to shift the blame onto him. "You never told me anything.

"I never _what?_" he demanded, standing. "This was more your fault the mine, in any case."

"Oh? How do you figure?" I asked, sensing the raising of both of our voices.

"You-you-you talked to ZigZag more than you talked to me," he stuttered, struggling to find some sort of counter-attack and failing miserably.

I raised an eyebrow. "I talked to ZigZag more than?-My God, Squid! You were my boyfriend! Yeah, he's my best guy friend. I talk to my best friends. It happens. But never were there any feelings of any sort there for him. It was always him and Princess; me and you. But-"

"-oh here comes the but."

"-But, you killed that. You didn't even care about making it work. You 'didn't want to get to emotionally attached'," I mimicked.

He jaw dropped. "Thank you, Twist, for belittling my good intentions."

"Good intentions!" I cried. "What sort of good in hell could possibly come form what you did? I mean, you said you didn't want to get too 'emotionally attached.' Um, well, you had told me only two weeks previous that you loved me. I think that qualifies as being emotionally attached. Any way you slice it. Did it take you that two weeks to realize that, or what?"

"I had my reasons," he argued, beginning to walk away. I gave a massive groan of frustration.

"That was always your solution! Walking away! You never once faced a problem in you life, Alan 'Squid' Smith. And I will have a field day when you discover that I'm right and finally own up to the crap you've caused." This time, it was my turn to beging walking away.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me to face him, none-too-gently. I gave him a look of anticipation, only waiting patiently and fairly for his return. "You have no right to say that," he said softly but dangerously. "I've been through enough in my life to be the way that I am. And that's one of your many major faults. You're stubborn. And stuck on you own ways. You don't realize that other people do things for a reason. You only reprimand them for not doing what you find to be the conventional way of handling things. Twist, you know I loved you. You know I wanted to be with you more than anything in this world. But I wasn't asked what I wanted. I have other priorities that I need to put first. Like my mom, friends and school work. You're a huge part of me-were-are-but other things come first for me. But, I don't expect you to understand that." Again, it was his turn to walk away.

I stood there in awe, unsure of how to respond. Finally, I stopped thinking with my head, my voice transitioning for condescending to desperate. "Look at this. We're always walking away. But, you're right. I don't understand. Because you never gave me a legitimate reason for doing what you did. You only did it and walked away from it What was I supposed to think, Squid? I can't read your mind."

He sighed and turned around to face me, seeing the pleading look in my eyes. "I'm sorry," he offered stupidly. "I didn't know how to explain it until now. I guess it was unfair for me to expect you to know immediately why I did it."

"Yeah, it was," I admitted honestly. I began taking hesitant steps toward him. "I don't want to push you into anything you can't handle right now."

He bit his lower lip. "I was stupid," he confessed. "My reasoning then seemed so logical-so right. I thought I was making the right decision. Now, I realize what I lost." I gave him a look of confusion. "Twist-I love you," he said at last, taking both of my hands in his. "I made the mistake of letting you go. I'm not going to let that happen again, here."

I smiled sadly. "Are you implying we give it another try, Squid?"

He grinned. "Is that what you want me to be implying?"

"More than anything in the world." With that, he lowered his face and embraced me in a deep kiss of apology.

* * *

roaringflame: Thanks for adding me to your favorite authors list!

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Only4Miken: Well, I hoped that filled your need for Squid action, thanks for the review!

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Running to Stand Still: Haha, it's okay! And I'm glad you still like it. Yeah, it would have been really stupid for everyone to be best buddies again. Well, my torturing you has stopped I hoped. Thanks for the review!

clairelovesedward: I'm glad your hooked. Thanks for the review!

Hey everyone! Well, I actually remembered to update this week! I had this super huge French project due Monday. And if any of you actually speak French and the above is wrong, don't blame me, blame my teacher. I asked her and she said it was correct. Well, Squid and Twist are finally back together. You had to know that I was going to put them back, it's just wouldn't be right if I hadn't. Again, all I ask for are 5 reviews. Y'all actually gave me 7. Snaps for you! Keep it up!

Love always,

Dee


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: You recognize it, it is obviously not mine.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

"T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the – er, place; not a creature was stirring; not even-"

"Lewis' face."

The group began laughing with mirth at my interruption of a friendly Christmas Eve recital.

"I swear to God, Emma Rose," began Lewis, closing the book from which he had been reading aloud, "You manage to ruin this every year." He brushed his brunette hair away from his eyes and sighed in an amused manner at me.

"It's ritual by now, Lew," Gia proclaimed, rising to her feet. She mad her way across the carpet and to the microwave to put in some more popcorn. "Trying to stop it would be impossible."

"Why did you change 'house' to 'place', anyway?" question Sarah.

"Felt like being different. It's always the same words every year," explained my brother.

"Yeah, which is why I take it upon myself to spruce it up a little," I defended.

Our house, always the ideal place for parties, was the current location of the ex-D-Tent members. It was Christmas Eve, and their families had stuff going on. Rachel's parents had gone down to Florida to visit with family; TC's had gone to an office party; and the guy's corresponding relatives were also away in various places, with the exception of ours, who always seemed to be around.

The snow was sprinkling lightly across the grass outside. We were all surprised especially since it was Texas. But, I guess it was a Christmas miracle. It was freezing nature in time and preserving it for the spring. Even thought the house was toasty war, the very sigt of the snow sparkling outside managed to give us all a chill and desire for some hot cocoa, which Stranger was in the process of making.

"I love snow," Princess said with a dreamy sigh, looking out the window longingly. "I'm so glad this Christmas in white."

"I could live without it," I admitted.

"Yes, Emma, we know you hate snow," said Lewis, standing and beginning to help Stranger with the many mugs she was carrying.

"Yeah, well, us short people don't like it. I remember living in New York. It's really hard to walk through without getting soaked up to your knees in that evil white fluffy creation of the Devil," said Hype with a certain vengeance.

"Thank you! Somebody who's on my side," I declared.

"I never said I liked it. I like the way it looks, but its way too cold," said Dutchess, the Texas native.

"I don't see how anybody could hate snow," Squid began, taking his shoes off so he could rest his feet on the coffee table.

"It's so beautiful," TC said.

"And wet," Hype said.

"And cold," I agreed.

"And…wet," Hype repeated, unable to think of anything else.

"Thank you Twist and Hype. The two of you are so perceptive," X-Ray said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," the two of us chorused, making the group laugh.

"It feels so weird not spending Christmas with family, though," said Stranger.

"Yeah," Zero said returning with four tubs of popcorn from the kitchen. Stranger took two off Zero's hands, and both distributed them evenly through the circle. Lewis immediately grabbed the one designated for Magnet and placed it carelessly in his lap. He didn't hesitate to dig in.

"These were our last four bags," Zero warned. "Use your appetites wisely." He glanced pointedly at Lewis.

"Since when do I waste perfectly good food?" asked Lewis through a literal mouthful of popcorn. And of course he didn't stop there, he continued shoving more in.

"You're going to choke, and I'm going to laugh," I said.

"You wanna go, Emma?" demanded Lewis playfully, standing, oblivious to the half-chewed pieces of popcorn sprinkling out of his mouth as he talked.

"Ew, Barfbag, sit, and close your mouth when you chew. Honestly, Twist, were your parents terribly distracted years ago when he should have been learning his manners?" Princess said disgusted.

"No, Lewis was the terribly distracted one. While he should have been coloring in coloring books, he was too busy eating the crayons."

"Wax is healthy, man," Lewis stated, after swallowing carefully.

"And I always thought he'd been dropped on his head as a child," said Gia sadly, shaking her head. "And all this time, it was the wax."

"Hey, I bet you all had your crayon-eating moments," Lewis argued. "You probably just don't remember them as well as I do. Because I have a superior brain."

"Right…I think it's time for the gift exchange," said Magnet, glancing worriedly at Lewis and scooting towards the four-foot Christmas tree was had cut down from our backyard.

"You think your mom is gonna notice that one of her trees is missing?" asked Armpit.

"Nah, there are tons of them," I said.

"Yeah, but do all of them have a nice large mound of dirt where they used to be?" Twitch asked rationally.

I sighed and glanced at them. "You're ruining the moment."

"Sorry."

"Yeah, sorry."

"Thank you. We'll worry about the tree some time when it's no longer Christmas," I said.

"Okay," they chorused.

"Now, let's have a look here…" mumbled Magnet, venturing around the tree, groping the colorfully covered, size-varying gifts. We had decided to draw names instead of buying for everybody, since all of us had family to buy for with our won money.

"This is Dutchess'," said Magnet, ulling it away from the pine needles and passing it down the row. "Sarah, Armpit, Rachel, ZigZag's," he continued, distributing the corresponding gifts delicately. "Twist's," he said worriedly, holding up the poorly wrapped, tiny rectangular cube in his hands. He glanced at me carefully. "Squid bought for you, didn't he?" he asked, more so a comment than a question.

"Hey, that is a high quality Christmas present right there," Squid argued, snatching it away from Magnet and carefully handing it to me. "I'll have you know that I put a _lot_ of thought into it."

"Yeah, but all of that thought went into how to wrap it," ZigZag muttered. However, half the group heard, and laughed.

"Squid's not feeling' the love," Squid whined.

"Oh, we love you. But your stupidity tends to be amusing," I offered.

"Always so blunt," Twitch laughed.

Magnet finished handing out the gifts, and finally took his seat back in the circle, holding his own. "All right guys, go ahead and open 'em up."

The group didn't hesitate to do so. Hype, who had cheated and started opening it before Magnet said anything, was now holding in his hands a large bag of candy.

"Score!" she squealed.

TC groaned as Hype started taking out the individually wrapped pieces and shoveling them into her mouth. "Okay. Which one of you incompetent morons bought for Hype?"

Nobody in the group said anything, for fear of being brutally beaten by the others…I assume.

"I have a list, you know. I can just find out that way," said X-Ray, pushing a few of my family's presents aside in pursuit of the aforementioned slip of paper.

"Okay, okay, it was me!" I admitted.

"Are you trying to kill us all?" was screamed by almost everyone in my direction.

"I thought she'd enjoy it. It was hard to think of anything else!" I whined.

"We are all going to die!" said Rachel.

Hype had started running around the room singing All Star at the top of her lungs.

"I take it back. We're all going to _suffer_ a great deal, and _then_ we're going to die," Rachel corrected.

"Okay, okay," Princess cut in. She had opened her gift, which turned out to be a tube of the shiny lip-gloss she loved, a pack of Reeses, and a mood necklace in the shape of a dolphin. "Thank, whoever bought for me. I love you a lot."

"Me," said ZigZag, raising a hand slightly, more distracted by opeing his own present. I glanced at Princess and saw a faint blush across her cheeks. They were still in denial about their relationship. He ducked away casually and expertly as Hype leapt over his lap, and went back to his gift as if nothing had happened. It was the Three Day's Grace 'One X' CD. "Ah! Score! Thank you!"

"You're welcome," voiced Squid from the other side of the circle. The goup continued opening their gifts, constantly avoiding Hype's hurtles. However, she managed to sep on and crush Twitch's gift, which had been a batch of cookies baked by TC, now reduced to crumbs. But, nevertheless, Twitch was still eating them.

"So, Twist, I'm curious now. What did Squid get you?" voiced Magnet. The rest of the circle got silent, anxious to see some of Squid's creativity at work yet again. I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable opening a gift from my boyfriend in front of everyone.

"A charm," I said holding up a silver charm in the shape of a shovel.

There was a chorus of 'aw' from all the girls. And the guys were looking at Squid like he was a mutint.

"I noticed that you were a charm bracelet, and I thought that it would be a symbol of your time spent at Green Lake."

I turned my body towards him and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Gross, please don't do that in front of me," I faintly heard my brother mutter in the background.

"Lewis I think it time to read the story," I said glaring at him.

"All right, guy, I'm going to actually read T'was The Night now. You interrupt me, Emma Rose, and you die a terribly painful and agonizing death," Lewis said over everyone.

"What's he talking about?" Squid whispered into my ear.

"Oh, you'll see," I said smiling.

The group settled into relaxing positions, and Lewis cleared his throat.

"T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house; not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stocking were hung by the chimney with care; in hopes that-"

"-Lewis would finally wash his hair."

"Emma!"

"Sorry."

"St. Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds; while vision of sugar plums danced in their heads. And Mama in her 'kerchief and I in my cap; had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter; I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash; tore open the shutters-"

"-to give Twist some cash."

"I sear to God, Em."

"Okay, Okay, I'm done, I'm done!"

"Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow; gave the luster of mid-day-"

"-and Lewis' stinky toes."

"EMMA!"

"That was the last one, I swear."

"Gave luster of mid-day to objects below; when, what to my wondering eyes should appear; but a miniature sleigh, and –"

"-Lewis' hideous face in the mirror."

"I give up!" Lewis screamed. I was very proud.

"No, really, keep going, this is entertaining," Stranger said from Zero's lap.

Lewis gave a sigh of defeat. "And eight tiny reindeer. With a little old driver, so lively and quick; I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came; and he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name. Now, Dasher, now Dancer, now Prancer, and Vixen! On, Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, and Blitzen! To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall; now dash away, dash away, dash away all. As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly; when they meet with an obstable-"

"-Lewis eating a pie."

Lewis ignored me this time. "-Mount to the sky. So up on the housetop the coursers they flew; with the sleight full of toys, and St. Nicholas too. And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof; the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around; down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot; and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. A bundle of toys he had flung on his back; and he looked like a peddler just opining his pack. His eyes how they twinkled, his dimples, how merry. His cheeks were like roses , his nose like a cherry. His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow; and the beard of his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth; and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a round little belly; that shook when he laughed, like a bowlful full jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf; and I laughed when I saw him-"

"-reminded Lewis of himself."

Lewis sighed once again, but kept going. "In spite of myself. A wink of his eye and a twist of his head; soon gave me to know-"

"Lewis' name should be Ned."

"That was lame."

"Well, I couldn't think of anything else," I argued. "And it was time for me to be butting in again."

"Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work; and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger aside of his nose; and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle. And away they all flew like-"

"Lewis' rocket missile."

"-like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight; Merry Christmas to all-"

"-and Lewis looks like a fright."

"-and to all a good night."

* * *

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Hey everyone! Oh my goodness, I feel so bad for not updating in like forever, but my life has been mad chaos. My best friend for 8 years moved to Colombia and I have been told by multiple people that she was a bitch to me. And now that I think about it she was. So..good ridance to her. And then the guy who told me who liked me asked another girl out the next day, and thinks that I'm perfectly content with it. WRONG! And then finals were torture. But, hopefully everythings good now, or mostly. And I probably sound really whiny, but I really don't care. You would be too. So, anyways...I hope you enjoyed my holiday chapter. I was writing over the course of the time I wasn't updating (believe it or not) and tonight, I just erased it all and wrote this. I know, that its all Christmas related and some people are touchy with everything being about Christmas all the time even though they don't celebrate it. So...Happy Holidays even if its after or before the holiday you celebrate. Review please! Even though I know I don't deserve it after waitng so long to update, but I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER! I won't say when I'll update next because I tend to not stick with it. Happy Holiday's once again!

Love always,

Dee


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

I was lying in bed twiddling with the shovel charm that Squid had bought me for Christmas. It was a gift that I would have never had expected from him. It was just so…thoughtful. I mean, I knew that he would have to be, but I just didn't think that he was one to show it. I guess, there was just so much more about Squid that I needed to learn about.

"Emma , where are you? You need to get your butt down here or we are going to be late!" I heard Gia scream up the stairs. Unsurprisingly, she burst into my room and gave me a look. A look that just screamed 'what on earth are you doing in bed looking at your bracelet; we are going to be late'.

"Don't look at me like that," I said defending my actions.

"Okay, just because you came to some realization about Squid, does not mean you can neglect your morning duties," she said running over to my closet throwing clothes in my direction. "So, drag your ass out of bed and go wash your face and put your hair up since you haven't washed it and don't even consider trying to now, you don't have time. Also, considering that it's you, you can't afford to be even a second late. You know that the administration is just dying for a reason to expel you."

"Are you done babbling yet?" I said standing by the door waiting for her to realize that I was actually just waiting for her to get here.

"That's not funny," she said pulling me down the stairs and practically throwing me into her car. Lewis was already in the front seat and looking very frightened at the speed Gia was driving at. We pulled into the school parking lot and I actually did have to end up running towards my homeroom to avoid being late.

"I see you've finally decided to join us," my teacher sneered at me. What a lovely welcome back from the holiday break greeting. I mumbled my insincere apologies and slid into my seat and listened to the morning announcements.

"_Welcome back one and all, I hope this semester is as great as last fall's. If you need reminding now that spring is around the corner, the dress code is still in order,"_ I heard our principle say in her pathetic attempt at rhyming. _"Also, I need to see Emma Robinson, Lewis Robinson, Alan Smith…"_ I listened to her list the rest of my Green Lake companions and I felt myself stiffen. Why would she need to see us the first day of spring semester?

I felt every single pair of eyes staring at me as I walked out of the room towards the administration office. As I walked in I thought I saw Caveman hugging TC, but I soon realized that he was holding her back. I slipped over towards Squid taking his hand. When he looked down at me, I gave him a confused look.

"What's going on?" I asked looking around the room. I noticed that most every one was either in shock or really angry. I looked back up at him and he shrugged.

"I just got here, I'm as clueless as you are," he whispered into my ear.

I turned to Princess, who looked on the verge of tears. I gave her a confused look.

"Expulsion," was the word that I saw her mouth.

"What?" I screamed. I turned to see our principle looking at me.

"Yes, Miss Robinson?" she asked me in that fake tone of concern.

"Don't you dare act like you don't know what's wrong. I know that you are expelling us because we went to Camp Green Lake. Don't you care that most of us have some of the highest GPA's in this school?" I said trying not to run across the room, leap over the desk, and strangle her. Most of my restraint came from Squid holding me back.

"Miss Robinson, I'm not sure that your display of hostility is convincing me of your…worthiness to stay here," she said.

"Bull! You're only kicking us out because you finally found some loop hole in the system! Squid, LET GO OF ME!" I screamed.

"Now, Emma, I don't think that would be a wise decision. We both know that that would end in you and most likely Alan getting arrested. And you know with both of your histories that they won't hesitate to put you in jail. So, why don't you just calm yourself down?"

As soon as she said that I stopped trying to pounce on her. I felt Squid's grasp loosen, but he didn't let go. Smart man, my boyfriend.

"That's what I thought. Now, you all know why you're here now," the principle said looking at every single one of us, "and I do feel you deserve to know why you are being expelled. Some students have expressed…worries. Worries concerning their safety. And, I have gotten many personal calls from parents saying that they fear for their child's safety as well. So, I feel that what is best for most people's interest is that all of you are expelled. Now, I have given you a reason, you have exactly half an hour to remove everything in your possession and yourselves off of this property. Good day."

I felt myself being dragged out of the office and into the hallway. Squid slowly let go of me for fear of me running back in there to hurt the woman who just ruined my future. I was kicking the wall when I felt Squid wrap his arms around me again. But this time instead of restraining me, he was hugging me. I finally broke down and started crying.

"This is so totally not fair," I heard Dutchess whine.

"Well, what can we do about it? It's not like we have that much say in it," X-Ray said.

"Hello, are we forgetting the sliver lining in this situation?" Magnet asked us.

"Which would be what?" I said looking over at him, but not letting go of Squid.

"Now, we don't have to be surrounded by people who obviously don't want us here," he said.

I saw his point, but that 'sliver lining' was so small in comparison to the cloud of problems surrounding it.

"So, our futures have just been ruined. We legally have to be in school and that means we would either have to be home schooled or find another school to go to. This might mean we have to move, and who knows what that might mean, maybe moving away from each other! How could you compare not being around hateful people and the chance of not being around each other?" I felt like I was going to start crying again.

"Emma, calm down. Are you forgetting something?" Lewis said to me as if I was stupid.

"What?"

"Our dad is a lawyer, remember?"

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Hey everyone!

Oh my goodness, I feel so totally horrible. I won't bore you with reasons why I didn't update, but just I will say I'm sorry. Well, it's spring break now, so maybe I'll get another chapter in. Well, while I wasn't updating, I was reading the Twilight series for the first time. And if you haven't read it you should. Stephanie Meyer is a genius. I'm quite nervous for the movie they're making though, I don't think they will be able to capture Edward the way I see him. Well, thanks for all that reviewed once again!

Love,

Dee


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

"DADDY!" I screamed running up the stairs. "DADDY! DADDY! DADDY! I NEED YOU!" I ran into his office. "Daddy, oh my goodness! We were all-"

"Emma Rose, calm down. I am on the phone right now with the school," he said holding his hand up in my face. I sauntered over to the oversized couch across the room and sat down. I watched his face start out calm; go to confusion, then to anger. "Yes, I understand your concern. And I hope you understand when the court order sent to you says I will sue you to get my daughter and son and their friends back in school."

I smiled triumphantly as he hung up the phone. He let out a long sigh and then looked up at me.

"I'm assuming that you are in here to discuss your legal situation with the school," he said taking off his glasses.

"Yes," I said bluntly.

"Go and call all your friends and tell them that they and their parents need to come over to here to discuss this matter," he said pinching the bridge of his nose.

I might push my dad around a lot, but I really did feel respect for him. He had to cope with the fact that both Lewis and I were criminals, and the fact that most of our friends were criminals as well. Sure, I loathed him when my situation had happened because I went from Daddy's little angel to the misunderstood teenage girl with hidden anger. And now, he had to defend all of us just so we could get an education. I walked out of the room to go call everyone, but unsurprisingly they were already here.

"Why are you all here? I mean I was going to call you, but how did you know?" I said walking over to them.

"Twist, your dad is a lawyer," Armpit said. "Where else would we go for this problem to be fixed?"

"Did you call your parents?" I asked from Squid's arms.

The re-echoing yes sounded through out the room. We all sat there in silence for twenty minutes. We were just waiting for everyone's parents to get over here. This was faintly reminiscent of my judgment day on whether or not I was going to Camp Green Lake. And, what scared me about that familiarity was that I knew the ending to the first story. The uncertainty of what was going to happen was almost to much to bear.

Everyone's parents finally made it to the house, but Dad wanted to talk to them alone before allowing us in the meeting. We heard the not so faint arguing coming from his office of the parents solutions on what to do. One parent wanted to just home-school us all. My response to that was 'hell to the no.' Most of them agreed with Dad about just filing a lawsuit to scare the school into reenrolling us. I think that was just because most of them know the Dad knows what he is doing. After about an hour and a half of arguing, the double doors opened to signify that we were now allowed to enter and join.

"Okay, so we all know while we are here," Dad said speaking over everyone. "The institute that was educating our children has now decided that they are no longer welcomed to their location. And when questioned upon that action the response was only 'For the safety of the other students'. Now, we can surely understand the protective vibes as a parent we get for our children, but I'm sure we all agree this action was over the top."

There was a murmur of agreement.

"Dad, cut to the chase," Lewis interrupted. "What are we going to do about this?"

All of us teenagers stiffened at the pause of my father's response.

"We, as parents, have decided that my law firm will file a law suit confronting your school about its discrimination towards you kids. Now, that does not guarantee that by the end of this you will be welcomed back to school with open arms or at all. So, in the mean time you will keep up with your studies by home-schooling," Dad said.

"Home-schooling? Dad, I understand the necessity of it and why you all want us to do it. But, how long would you think we'd have to endure that?" I said slightly stepping forward.

"Emma Rose, truthfully, I don't have a time frame of how long this would drag out. Since this is your last semester of your senior year, I can't even guarantee that it would be over by the time of your graduation," he said in a pained voice.

"You mean, there's a possibility of us not walking at graduation?" Princess said looking as though she might cry.

"Sadly, that is a huge possibility. These suits can and do last for months at a time," Dad said looking at her with sympathic eyes.

"Then what's the point of even suing the school, if we are pretty much positive of the delayed outcome?" Caveman said in a questioning voice.

"To get our point across," Dad said with finality. "The school board needs to know that just because people may have troubled pasts that their future can be bright and clear."

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Hey everybody!

Oh my goodness. I know this chapter was like mega short, but I just got one of those 'I need to update now' bursts of energy and went with it. Hopefully I'll have more of them. I truely appreciate you all!

Love always,

Dee


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

The sound of my annoying alarm clock was supposed to be waking up in thirty minutes. So why was I up now? It wasn't the fact that Camp Green Lake horrors were still instilled into my brain. It wasn't the nightmare that I occasionally have that answered my 'what if' questions if I hadn't beaten that jerk to a pulp. It wasn't even the fact that I just got expelled from my high school and was now forced to be home schooled with all my other Camp Green Lake partners. No, none of that was the reason I was awake. I was awake because three stupid people decided to wake me up with a morning wake up call that slightly resembled an earthquake. And who are these unfortunate three people who were about to get their asses kicked personally by me? One: Lewis, which really doesn't surprise me because he jumps at any chance to annoy me. Two: ZigZag, which did surprise me because I had no idea why he was over at my house at 6:30 in the morning. And three: Squid, which somewhat shocked me because of two reasons. The first being, how the hell did he get into my room with out my parents throwing a fit? The second reason was more out of panic of how I was going to avoid getting out of bed with him in the room. I wasn't indecent, and it wasn't like he hadn't seen me in my underwear. I was more concerned on how could I avoid having Lewis go all over protective on me with Squid seeing me sleeping in a bra and shorts?

"What the hell are you three doing?" I hissed from hiding under my covers.

"Waking you up. You really should learn to be on time for school, especially since it's in your own house," ZigZag said still jumping on my bed. I was going to kill him.

"Unless you want me to tell you all good morning by throwing up, then I suggest that you three STOP JUMPING ON MY BED!" I said sticking my head out to glare at them. "And what to do mean that I'm late? It's 6:30, school doesn't start until an hour from now!"

"Did Barfbag not tell you?" Squid said finally just sitting down next to me.

"Tell me what?" I said now glaring at my so-called brother.

"We all decided to have school start at 6:30 so we could get it over with quickly," ZigZag said. He had stopped jumping on my bed, but now he was deciding that he wanted to lie down. I was not having any of that. This was my room and my bed. So, I kicked him off.

"OW, Twist! What was that for?" he whined…baby.

"One, you three woke me up in a very annoying fashion so it was coming to you. And two, START SCHOOL AT 6:30 IN THE MORNING?! Are you all crazy? I need my sleep, and I refuse to participate in your foolishness," I said pulling my duvet back over my head to go back to sleep.

"I don't think so little sis. We are not going to wait on you to fulfill your sleep so get up," Lewis said. I was not expecting him to rip my covers off of my body. This was humiliating. I was half naked in front of my boyfriend, his best friend, and my brother. Needless to say, I was going to kill Lewis in his sleep in the most painful manner I can think of. I could feel my face turning into an unknown shade of red. Then the next thing that happened was totally unexpected. They all started to laugh.

"And what may I ask is so funny?" I asked starting to get a little mad.

"Nothing, your face, oh my goodness! That was priceless," Lewis breathed out almost falling over onto the ground. I let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Why on earth are you sleeping in your underwear anyways?" ZigZag asked trying to get control of himself. He was failing.

"In case you haven't noticed, we live in Houston. It is hot," I fumed pulling the covers back over me.

"Emma, in case you've forgotten, we have air conditioning in this household," Lewis mockingly scolded me.

"It was dark and I was to stubborn to take time to figure it out with out using eye sight," I said. I noticed that Squid hadn't said more than about two sentences. I turned my attention to him. "You! What do you have to say about all of this?"

"I…I think we should leave your room so you can get dressed," he said. "Also, I think that if we were in here any longer you would beat us up."

"That was the correct to say," I said smiling sweetly. "Now GET OUT!" I yelled pointing towards my door.

Lewis and ZigZag half ran out of the room laughing. I stared at my boyfriend questioningly to see why he was brave enough to face my wrath. He looked at me with that stupid crooked smirk on his face. Yeah, that's why. He knew I couldn't stay mad at him no matter what, which is totally unfair.

"Yes?" I asked him raising my eyebrows for a dramatic effect.

"I just thought I would tell you a proper good morning," he said stepping closer to me.

"That would be very much appreciated since I had to endure the makeshift earthquake this morning," I said getting out of bed to go put on some clothes. He looked at me; I noticed that the smirk was coming back. "What? It's not like you haven't seen me in my underwear. We did technically live together."

"I know, but that was when we were living with the guys," he said coming up behind me as I put my shirt on. "And, you really didn't wear lace there either."

"Well, forgive me for planning to have grandma underwear in a camp full of horny teenage boys," I scoffed. I turned around to head to my bathroom to brush my teeth when I ran into Squid. "Okay, you really need to move. I want to brush my teeth. And I'm pretty sure Lewis and my parents will eventually come up here and forcefully remove you."

Squid stepped to the side and watched me brush my teeth. I assume he was waiting to be thrown from this room by my brother. I turned around and smiled signaling that I was ready to go to this ridiculous home schooling session in my living room. I grabbed Squid's hand and started pulling him to the door.

"Do we have to go down there?" he asked me pouting, which was very unlike him.

"Yes, unfortunately. Why?" I said curious as to why he was acting this way. He was way more clingy than usual.

"Because we never have any alone time. We are always with the guys and girls. I guess it's just nice being away from them for a little bit," he told me with an added sigh at the end of it.

I giggled at him. "Are you telling me that you want to go on a date with me?" I teased.

"Do you not want to go on a date with me?" he countered.

"I would love to go on a date with you, Alan," I said standing on my tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek. "But right now, we need to get to class."

We both headed down the stairs to meet up with our fellow classmates.

* * *

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Hey everybody! Oh my goodness! Summer is here!! I'm so glad to be out of the drama filled hallways of highschool. I get to relax this summer while actually having time to write for you guys! That is when I'm not reading one of the five books I have for summer reading. How cruel is that? Five books!! I don't mind the reading part, but the books are usually horrid. Well, anyways...Squid and Twist were a little wierd in this chapter, but it's like Squid said they usually don't have any alone time. And I assume that most couples are different when alone and not surrounded by friends. Also, Twist called Squid Alan, I did that because it seems more intimate, or at least to me it does. And lastly...review!! Please!

Love always,

Dee


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

"So, I see you two decided to finally join us," Lewis said glaring at Squid.

"It's your own fault. If you don't want us to be alone together in my room, don't invite him up," I said lying down on the couch. "Tell me again why you all decided to make this torture start at 6:30 in the morning."

"Because the earlier we start the earlier we finish," Caveman said, always the voice of logic.

"You do realize though, even if we did start at 7:30 we are still starting an hour earlier before regular schooling?" I mumbled from the couch.

"Stop complaining Twist. If I'm not allowed to, you're definitely not allowed. This was what they wanted," Hype said sitting at the end of the couch that wasn't occupied by my body. "I didn't want to start it early either."

"Well, I'm sorry about that Hype, but I just found out about this about ten minutes ago. I was expecting to wake up at 7, and imagine my surprise when these three decide to wake me up by jumping on my bed. I think I have a little bit of a right to be peeved if I want to be," I said standing up and going to the kitchen to make myself breakfast.

"I see she still isn't a morning person," I heard Armpit say.

"DAMN STRAIGHT!" I screamed from the kitchen. I walked back out into the living room about five minutes later with my breakfast. "So how is this home schooling going to work? I mean besides the obvious. Are we going to have a tutor come teach us, learn online, or just have workbooks and crap delivered to the house."

"Well, Emma Rose, you all will be learning all the material you need to online," Dad said from the door way leading into the room. "The reason for that is nobody wanted to come tutor you all and it would have taken a while for all the work books and everything to arrive here. Online learning was our best option. Now, I will be here all day to supervise you making sure you all do your own work. I will be in my office, but rest assured I can hear whatever goes on in this room perfectly." And with that he left the room.

"Not meaning to say that the online thing is bad, but do you have enough computers for all of us?" Stranger said from her corner.

"Sadly, we do," Lewis said shaking his head. "My dad is the one they send all of the interns to, so he decided to have a perminate set of laptops for when they come. He was tired of them not bringing their own stuff."

Everybody was just staring at either me or Lewis. I cracked first. "WHAT?"

"How loaded are you exactly?" Magnet said. He obviously didn't care that we didn't like talking about that.

"WE aren't loaded. Our PARENTS are loaded. Do you realize how much crap we have to go through to just get five bucks?" Lewis said. He was much touchier on that subject.

"Guys, let's just get started," Dutchess said trying to break the awkwardness of the situation.

"I'll go get the laptops," I said slowly leaving the room.

"Here, I'll come with you," TC said getting up off the floor.

I smiled at her gratefully. We walked in a comfortable silence to the room where we stored the computers. I grabbed eight and she took the last seven. Walking back to the living room TC decided to ask me a question.

"I hope I don't offend you Twist, but seriously how loaded are you?"

I stopped walking and turned to face her. "Okay, TC, don't take this the wrong way. Shut the hell up. I don't like talking about it because it doesn't matter. And, Lewis and I don't mean to show that we do have money, but it's kind of hard with you all over here all the time. We can't help that our parents make a good living, but we don't get a single penny without doing any work. The only reason they gave us money for the vacation was because they thought we all deserved a break from the harsh past that was Camp Green Lake. Please, just shut up about it."

"Okay, I get it. No more talking about it," she smiled at me to show that she really didn't care. I smiled back at her showing that I wasn't really that mad. That was what I love about TC. She wasn't afraid to ask about something she wanted to know, but didn't push it if you didn't want to talk about it. We walked back into the living room and everyone came and got a computer. We all logged into the website that was meant for home schooled children.

"Okay, who else is confused?" X-Ray said from where he was sitting.

There was a chorus of agreement around the room. Nobody was getting how we were supposed to teach ourselves the material.

"Do you guys want to work together?" Twitch suggested.

"I guess we have to if we want to pass," Princess said.

"Okay well, it's physics. It shouldn't be that hard to figure it out, especially since we're working together," Squid said from beside me.

About an hour later we were still arguing over the first question.

"I'm telling you the answer is B!" I said over everyone.

"Are you being deliberately dense? The answer is obviously D," Princess sneered at me.

"The answer is definitely A," Zero said quietly, but it was full of confidence.

"Whatever, I don't want to be on number one anymore! Just put what you think it is and let's move on," Hype sighed.

We all put in our answers. The next page would tell us if our answer was correct or not. There was no doubt in my mind that the answer was B. I waited patiently for the page to come up to rub it in everyone's face. The page finally came up.

"The answer is…C! What? That doesn't make any sense!" I whined.

"Actually it does, that's what I put," Lewis smirked at me from across the room.

"Shut up," I said sticking my tongue out at him, very mature, I know.

The rest of the day passed mostly like that, but I ended up getting the rest of the answers in the physics section right. This was going to be a long week if everyday ended up like today. Well, at least tomorrow we were doing literature.

At dinner, Dad was very curious as to how today went. I told him the truth. It sucked. A lot.

"Dad, it's so hard. We have to teach it to ourselves!" I said before taking a bite of my hotdog.

"Really? That's great, you have a head start on teaching yourself things. In college some professors do that. The lecture in class about you taught yourself the night before," Dad said smiling. I, for one, did not see the bright side of that.

"What? That's ridiculous! What if you teach yourself incorrectly?" I asked out of annoyance.

"Then, you screwed," Lewis said from his end of the table.

"Lewis, I will not tolerate that language," Mom said sternly. "Emma Rose, you knew that didn't you. I hope that you should expect that some professors will only give you two grade for the semester: your midterm and your final. Are you prepared enough for college?"

"Mom, I'm going to University of Houston. I'm prepared," I said trying very hard not to roll my eyes.

We finished our dinner, and I was now in bed resetting my alarm to 6 a.m. Hopefully tomorrow would go better.

* * *

JainaZekk621: Thanks for the review!

SMACbaby: Thanks for the review!

Only4Miken: That would suck. But I currently don't have a boyfriend, but I know I would want alone time with him. Ha, I'm one of the people that freak out, but that's just me. Seeing my friends suck face just doesn't sound appealing to me. Thanks for the review!

Hey everybody!

OMG! I updated within a week! Be proud! I really have nothing else to say other than please review! I love them!

Love always,

Dee


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Thump…thump…thump…thump. _What is that noise?_ I slowly opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Thump…thump…thump…thump. It wasn't someone knocking on my door. I decided that no sleep was to be had while that noise was going on. I walked into my bathroom to make sure my sink wasn't leaking. No, not that. Thump…thump…thump…thump. I walked all around my room; it would drive me crazy not knowing what it was. I decided that it wasn't anything in my room, so I went down the hall to see if it was something in the kitchen. Wait. There it is. Thump…thump…thump…thump. Lewis' room. What on earth is that boy doing? I opened the door.

"What are you doing?" I murmured as I sat down next to him. It was three in the morning; I'm not standing.

"Thinking," he said quietly.

"And that requires throwing at tennis ball at the wall repeatedly?" I asked while yawning. I put my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.

He stopped. "Sorry."

"That's okay. You don't usually let anything keep you up at night. What's bothering you?" I said sleepily.

"Too many things. Gia, school, Squid, and our futures," he sighed.

That made my eyes pop open and I sat up straight. "_What?_ Why are you worrying about all of that right now?"

"It's…complicated."

"Lewis, I'm your twin. I think I'd be the best to understand you on those topics. Just try to explain it. I bet you'd feel better if you at least talked about it."

"I guess."

"Let's start with Gia. Why are you worried about her?"

"I'm not really worried _about_ her, more about her with _me_."

"What?"

"I'm starting to think that she doesn't like me as much as she used to."

"Why?" _I swear there will be more prompting from me than talking from him._

"Well…"

"Lewis, I know I've told you thousands of times that I 'don't want to hear it' when it comes to you and Gia, but this is obviously bothering you. Please talk to me."

"Well, we used to talk on the phone all the time, you know? And now, whenever I call she's always busy. And that may not sound like a big deal, but to me it's huge. Another thing is, I was always attracted to how blunt she is. Now, it seems like she doesn't want to upset anyone's feelings, so she just says what they want to hear. We haven't been alone since I came home because of the rattlesnake bite and that date over the summer."

"Lewis, it sounds like you also are starting not to be as crazy about her as you were in the beginning. I think you and Gia, just need to be alone on a date soon. You can talk over everything with her then. That's what Squid and I are doing this Friday. Which brings us to the next topic, why are you worrying about Squid's and my relationship?"

"Emma, you are my twin and more importantly your brother. I will worry about you and whoever you decide to date. I'm just worrying because Squid is actually my friend, not just some random boyfriend that you picked up off the street. I don't want to have to beat him up if he hurts you again. I saw how much he hurt you the first time he broke up with you. I don't think I could take it if you became like that again."

"That's really sweet, but my relationship with Squid is mine, not yours. Yes, he broke my heart when he broke up with me. But we _talked _about it. We worked it out. Sure, it would hurt again, but you know me! I would get through it. And you know, if he was anything less than a gentleman I would tell you."

"I guess that's true."

"I think I know why you're worried about school and our futures. Trust me; I've been worrying about that too. We all have."

"But what if…we don't win. We wouldn't be able to say that we graduated from Houston High School. It's going to be really hard to get into a college. You say that you're going the Houston University, but you haven't even applied yet. I want to be able to get a good job and provide for my future family. I want to be able to afford the thing I want in life. I want to know that all of us know that we'll be all right. I want everything to be how it should be; like we never even went to Camp Green Lake."

"Lewis. Nobody knows what their future brings. I want to know all that stuff too. But I think everything is how it should be. If we never went to Camp Green Lake, we never would have learned who our true friends are. I'm glad that I now know who wasn't a true friend to me. Don't be so negative. You need to start believing that we will win. I know that the case isn't 100% fool proof, but it's going to be really hard to not win. I know we may not be able to say that, but I don't think I'll say that anyway, even if we do get back in. At least not with pride. Why should I be proud that I graduated from a school that didn't even want me?"

"I guess that's a good point."

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Lewis, I need to tell you something. I actually have applied to Houston University. I haven't gotten in yet, but I can't think about not getting in. You know that I haven't even considered anywhere else since I was 10."

"You'll get in. You're too smart to not get in."

I put my head back on his shoulder and felt myself starting to fall back asleep. I felt myself being carried to my room and placed back into my bed.

"Hey Emma," he whispered while pausing at the door.

"Yeah, Lewis," I whispered back.

"Thanks," he said as he walked out the door.

* * *

Only4Miken: Thanks for the review! I hope I never have to be homeschooled.

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RippedIntoPieces: Thanks for the review! Let's just say they have enough credit.

Rampart: Thanks for the review!

Traice: Thanks for the reviews! Even if all the last one said was update. I still love you anyway.

Love Like Winter- Affliction: Thanks for the review and for adding More Holes and a Surprise to your favorites list. I hoped you liked reading this sequel too!

Hey everyone,

I know, I know. It's been months since my last update. I know I said that over the summer that I would be updating more. That was obviously a lie, and I obviously need to stop promising updates. I really hope that all of you that have been reading the story are still reading it; don't give up on me!!! I guess real life caught up with me. College courses in high school suck all your free time away. If you are wondering why I suddenly decided to update, you can thank Love Like Winter- Affliction. With out that review notice I got, this update wouldn't have happened for a while. So thank you Love Like Winter- Affliction! I hope everyone's ready for the holidays!!!! I know I am. Please review!!!!

Love always,

Dee


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

I woke up at the refreshing time of 6 o'clock a.m. feeling a little happier than I did before I went back to sleep last night. I was really glad and Lewis and I had a twin bonding moment. They may not happen often, but it's really nice when they do. I happily got ready for the day; that is until I remember it was the second day of homeschooling. Crap. I had somehow forgotten about the most pressing issue in my life right now. I trudged downstairs to set up the laptops for today, but when I got in the living room I saw they were already all set up. I also noticed the smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen. Ah, another thing I love about our bonding moments; Lewis feels the need to cook and do one thing nice for me. Maybe if I'm lucky he'll put the laptops up too.

"Hey," I said sitting down at the counter top waiting to be served my breakfast.

"Hey," Lewis said back. He was concentrating on flipping the pancakes. Another nice thing about our bonding, it never has to be brought up again.

"Ready for our English lesson today?" I said digging into my breakfast.

"Gross, no. I don't even want to fathom the idea that all of _them_ will be here again today," he groaned.

"Them? Those them that you speak of are our nearest and dearest. I, for one, am looking forward to the lesson on the Dark Romantics and Transcendentalists," I said with my mouth full of food.

"How do you still sound so smart with a mouth full of food? I'm buying you an etiquette book for Christmas."

"Looking forward to it. I'll lend it to you when I'm done," I said getting sick of the sight of Lewis drinking milk straight from the carton.

"What are you talking about?" Gia said waltzing into the kitchen.

"Why are you here this early? And how did you get into this house?" I sighed.

"I came to eat breakfast with my boo, and I have a key," Gia said stealing my plate from me.

"Okay, ew, once again, please refrain from calling each other 'boo' or any other pet names while I'm in your presence. Who, in their right mind gave you a key?" I said trying to hide my disgust.

"Your father," she said, with her mouth full, I might add.

"Why would he give you a key?" I asked in frustration.

"Emergencies and what not," Gia said.

"Whatever, I'm going to go get ready," I said while sliding off my chair. I gave Lewis an encouraging look, so he would know that now would be the best time to talk to her.

Bounding up the stairs, I thought out my wardrobe choices for the day. I finally decided after washing my face; I'm staying in my pajamas. It's my house; I can be comfortable if I want to. After that exhausting act I hopped down the stairs. Guess what I found? Gia and Lewis making out.

"EW!!! My eyes!!!! You have ruined my corneas!!!!" I theatrically threw my body away from them and threw my hands over my eyes.

"Emma, we thought you were going to be upstairs for a while," Gia said acting as though she was sorry. "You can turn around now."

"Are you disentangled from one another yet?" I said seriously.

"Who you in inherited the drama queen gene from is still a mystery to me," Lewis said. I could practically hear his eye roll.

I mustered up the courage to turn around and look at them. I gave them my most stern look. "One, do not ever do that unless you know it is impossible for me to interrupt you. Two, Lewis the next time I hear you roll your eyes at me, I will not hesitate to hurt you. And you know I will."

"Why are you talking about hurting Barfbag? What did he ever do to you?"

How in the world did _he_ get in this house? I know for a fact that my father would rather get shot than hand over a house key to him. I was obviously hallucinating. Nope, I wasn't. How did I figure this out? I felt Squid put his arm around my shoulders. As if sensing my questions, he answered them.

"I found the spare key; you know that your dad wouldn't ever give me a key. Although that does seem like a double standard in between Gia and I. Just because she's your friend means that there is enough reason that she gets a key. I'm Barfbag's friend, why don't I get a key?"

"Because Gia has not been to a juvenile detention center, and my dad just doesn't trust you," I said looking up at him.

"That's hurts. I trust him," Squid said as if this was reason enough.

"Don't get pouty. You are going to have to keep positive to survive today," Gia told Squid.

"Why do I need to be positive?" Squid said.

"Because, that one," Gia said pointing in my direction, ", is absolutely nuts about the subjects. Thoreau is one her idols."

Thanks for making me the center of attention and awkward stares Gia.

"Stop gawking. We have thirty minutes until everyone else shows up," I said trying to get away from the attention. "Did you eat breakfast?"

"Yep," Squid said with a resounding pop.

"Good, because if you were here with us you wouldn't have been able to keep it down," I said glaring at Lewis and Gia. I may love them, but nobody, I repeat, NOBODY wants to see their twin and best friend like that. It may haunt my dreams forever.

* * *

Shannon012495: Thanks for the review! Yes, I try to include them as often as I think twins should have them. But alas, I don't have a twin so the time frames are merely subjective.

JainaZekk621: Thanks for the review!

Only4Miken: Thanks for the review! Yeah, I often wonder what it would be like to have a twin sister/brother. But then I remember the sister that I do have and come to the conclusion that maybe it's better that I don't.

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Hey everyone!

Aren't you proud that I update twice in one month. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm in a happy mood because I'm out of school for the next 3 weeks. And because my school does block scheduling (4 classes one semester/4 different the next) I have no projects that I absolutely must do. Because believe you me, if it was year round all of them would be like ,"Guess what?!?!? I have nothing to doing in my spare time, and even though you have more important things to do; I want you to write a book report! Won't that be fun?" No it wouldn't have been. And we all would have told them so. So, it mentions up there in the chapter that Twist idols Thoreau. Well, that's mostly because David Henry Thoreau is one of my idols. If you have no clue who he is google him. If you've ever heard of the book "Walden", Thoreau wrote it. Changed my life. Well, anyways, I will once again ask for your reviews, please.

Love always,

Dee


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Gia, as much as I love you, you actually have to be at school in ten minutes," I said walking to the door while subtly guiding her to the door.

"EMMA! Stop pushing me!" she said to me once we got to the door. "You never were one for subtlety. I know I have to be at school, but when has that ever had an impact on whether I wanted to go or not? Never."

"Gia, go. Rachel and Sarah need you to be there because I'm not. You presence and news of seeing me today will keep them sane," I called after her.

"Yeah, I'm sure Rachel and Sarah are heartbroken from you not being there," Lewis said mockingly.

"Well, at least there are people outside of our little group that will miss me," I countered.

"Oh, you silly little girl, they aren't missing you because you aren't there. They're missing you because you're a pathway to me," Lewis said smirking at me.

"Ew…Lewis you have already corrupted one of my friends. Please refrain from doing the same to the other two."

"Not necessary, Gia and I are going on a date this Saturday."

"Good. You'll finally be out of this house."

"Like you aren't always in this house! How about you get out there once in a while?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm going on a date with Squid this Friday, so shut your mouth."

"Really and what would you two be doing?"

"That is none of your business."

"As your older-"

"YOU ARE OLDER BY TWO MINUTES!"

"Still making me older, which gives me the right to know what you are going to be doing with your boyfriend on Friday, all alone."

"Shut up Lewis, we are going to be in public."

There was a small cough from the corner of the room. Lewis and I backed away from each other and looked in that general direction. Squid was standing there and turning an unusual shade of red.

"Ummm…Barfbag, you really don't need to worry. I'm just taking her bowling," Squid uncomfortably said while looking at the floor.

"Don't try anything," Lewis said warningly.

I rolled my eyes and smacked him on the back of the head.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" he screamed at me.

"If Squid is going to try anything, that shouldn't be any concern of yours. I'm a big girl, Lewis. Now, can we please stop talking about this before Squid bursts of embarrassment?" I said in my no nonsense voice.

Lewis reluctantly agreed, while Squid looked relieved that the topic was no longer going to revolve around his premeditated or non-meditated attempt to try something with me. I looked out the window to see if anyone else was even close to showing up. They all only had about five minutes to get here before we were supposed to start. Well at least Princess and ZigZag were walking up the driveway…together. Hmmmm….I need to start investigating more into that. I think tomorrow night the girls should stay here. We need to reconnect.

Oh gosh. Now I'm thinking about all the things I've been neglecting. I haven't asked Stranger anything about how she and Zero are. I don't even remotely know if Dutchess and Magnet have progressed at all outside of Dutchess' imagination. TC won't really care about me not bugging her about Caveman; she's a private person. OH! I have to ask Hype about Twitch too. Dang it! I'm falling behind on my tent leadership duties. I don't know if I should invite Rachel, Sarah, or Gia. I've been neglecting them too because I haven't been seeing them everyday. Maybe I'll catch up with them Saturday before Gia and Lewis' date.

"EARTH TO TWIST!!!" I heard someone yelling into my ear. Oops…I guess I got lost in my thoughts…again.

"Huh? What'd I miss?" I said looking into the very upset face of Armpit.

"We want to know if you are ready to start," he said in a very slow voice one would use on a child.

I looked around the room. Everyone was now here. They were all looking at me as if I were mentally slow. I grinned when I saw them all. I really did love them.

"Hell yeah I'm ready to get started! What is on the assignment list for the lesson today?" I said getting really into the topic.

"What is the topic?" Magnet said while his computer was loading.

"Transcendentalism and Dark Romantics," I said while opening the homeschooling website.

"REALLY?" I heard a voice very similar to Stranger's say…actually, squeal.

"Yeah," I said.

"I love Poe! He's one of my favorite authors of all time," she said with a look of contentedness on her face.

"I like most of his stuff, but Thoreau is my favorite," I said trying not to screaming about the fact that Stranger was a literature nut like me.

"Thoreau's okay, I like his philosophy on life. But Poe was a genius at writing, even if his views on society were a little dark," she said.

"See Lewis, she gets it. How is that concept hard to comprehend?" I said in an annoyed voice directed at Lewis.

"Because she doesn't throw out these complicated terms, and she keeps it simple. You, on the other hand, were forcing a book from each of the authors and trying to show me something that I still to this day do not comprehend," Lewis bluntly said to me.

I scoffed at him. I'm obviously the one out of the two of us that inherited intelligence. The screen that popped up to show us our assignment for the day finally came up. We had to write a paper on either Transcendentalism or Dark Romanticism after reading articles that they provided for us. Easy enough. We all started our papers and for about two hours all I heard was the constant sound of keys being typed. Because Stranger and I were the first two done with the paper because we knew most of the things about the topic we went into the kitchen to make lunch for everyone.

"Well, that was an easy enough thing to do for a day. For homeschooling, this is pretty easy. I thought we would be reading chapter after chapter of school book material," I said to Stranger while we set up a sandwich bar.

"I guess so, but I really want to go back to school. It's not like I really miss anyone, but it's just weird not going there everyday," Stranger said while laying out napkins.

"Yeah, it's weird when you finally realize how much time we spend at school."

"Twist?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you really think that we'll be walking at graduation?"

"I hope that we get an option to, but I don't really know. My dad's really good at his job, but you know our little community. Everyone that the defense will bring to witness will talk against us because people have prejudices against us. Even if they know we're good people who just made some bad mistakes."

"I know."

"When we get called up to the stand, we are going to have to relive those moments that sent us to Camp Green Lake. But, we are going to have the chance to tell people how Camp Green Lake affected us, and that we would never dream of doing things that again. Mostly because we couldn't bear the thought that if we got caught; we'd be sent some where even worse than Camp Green Lake."

"That's sounds hard to do. You know better than anyone that it's going to be hard for us to do that."

"I know," I said quietly. I didn't know most of the stories that the guys had about how they were sent to Green Lake. But I did know that when we were on the stand they were going to bring up questions about our pasts. I don't know if Squid would be able to handle talking about that in front of everyone.

"Hey, it'll be okay," Stranger said sensing that I was thinking something not exactly cheerful.

"I know. Hey, I think you and the rest of the girls should stay over tomorrow night. I think we all need some serious bonding time without the guys."

"What about Lewis? You know as well as I do that he is the nosiest person."

"I can handle Lewis."

"Hey, you two, what's for lunch?" Lewis said walking into the dinning room, followed by the rest of the group. I hope we were going to be alright.

* * *

Only4Miken: Thanks for the review!

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Hey everyone!

Well, here's another chapter. I don't really have anything to ramble on about this time, except my birthday is in a couple of days! 17 finally! Please review!

Love always,

Dee


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Twist…where exactly are we supposed to sleep?" Dutchess asked cautiously standing at the doorway. "Are you even in here?"

I popped out of the bathroom while jumping and dodging snacks and sleeping bags covering the floor. "Where to you think? There are sleeping bags on the floor. Do you honestly think we're going to sleep?"

"Well, I see the sleeping bags on the floor, but I also see all the crap on top of them. I know we aren't planning on sleeping for most of the night, but Twist, you need to remember that we have 'school' tomorrow," Dutchess said, still standing at the doorway.

"OH…yeah, I was trying to forget about that little agenda. Although, it is at my house, so that seems to balance out any sleep deprivation issues you may have."

"DUTCHESS! How long are you going to stand there? I want to drop all my stuff before my arms fall off," a very annoyed voice that sounded vaguely like Hype but was actually coming from a moving mountain of suitcases.

"Hype? Am I hallucinating or did you actually pack all of that for _one night_?" I said unbelievingly to the girl that used to pack a change of underwear and a toothbrush.

"What? I wanted to be prepared," she said peeking out from the side of her column of suitcases.

"Prepared for what? A burglar who decided that he doesn't approve of Twist's things? Well, then he's in luck because you brought anything and everything he might have wanted that belongs to a teenage girl," TC said taking half of Hype's luggage and setting it in the bathroom.

"HA. HA. HA….not. TC your wit is astounding," Hype said coming out of the bathroom sans suitcases.

"Well, Hype, I love you no matter how much crap you decide to tote around with you," Princess said strolling into my room with a following Stranger.

"Thank you," Hype said triumphantly in TC's direction.

"No problem. Now you can never complain about how much I bring to places because you do the exact same thing."

Hype lost the gloating expression. Stranger was trying not to laugh.

"I'm glad you find my torment funny _Isabella_ because we will soon be making fun of you and _Hector_," Hype said with an air of annoyance.

Stranger lost her smile when this was pointed out.

"Aw, you guys! I've missed this," I said falling back onto my bed.

"What? Us trying not to kill each other while making fun of each other simultaneously?" Dutchess piped up.

"Well that, and us being together without the boys," I said with a smile, "That way we can talk about them without them knowing."

"Speaking of which, what's up with you and Squid?" Stranger asked out of the blue. She just wanted the attention off of her and Zero. Good luck with that.

"Fine, but he's been acting weird lately. We're going on a date Friday, and we'll probably talk about it then," I rambled through that quickly. "Now, the real reason why you all are here: for me to snoop into _your_ love lives. Stranger, let's start with you and Zero because I know you want to get this over with as quickly as possible."

"We're good," Stranger said bluntly and without feeling.

"Oh come on, you have to give us more than that," Dutchess whined from a sleeping bag she had already designated as her own.

"No."

"Stranger, if you don't we could just call Zero and ask him ourselves," TC said menacingly.

Stranger eyed up TC to see if she would actually follow through with that threat.

"If she doesn't, I will. Spill it," I said in my no nonsense voice.

"Fine," Stranger said giving in. She knows that I would. "Zero and I are perfectly content with each other. And he…he…um…"

"He…what, woman?!?!?" Hype screamed from behind me.

"He told me he loved me a couple weeks ago," Stranger said. Then the unimaginable happened: she blushed.

"That's the cutest thing I've ever imagined him saying," Princess cooed from an area unbeknownst to me.

"Okay, we'll move on now. I know that's all you'll tell us…for now. Hype, it's your turn," I said spinning around to face her.

"Oh, Twitch is…twitchy. There's really nothing to tell. We hang out at school…well, here. We've gone on a date or two. But, we aren't in the 'love' stage yet," Hype said in a bored tone, which is unlike Hype.

"Hype, do you still like Twitch?" TC asked bluntly, apparently she noticed the tone too.

"Yeah, but more effort needs to be put into our relationship from both of us. I'm hanging out with him tomorrow, so it's a good starting point," Hype said. I could tell she was done talking about Twitch and herself.

"Okay, last real relationship. TC, care to share?" I asked.

"Caveman and I are going strong. We're still trying to balance each other out. I'm very outspoken and independent, and he's…not. 'We trying to be more understanding other each other' as he puts it," TC said while rubbing her temples. "It's very exhausting, but it's worth it."

"Good. Next: Princess. I saw you and Ziggy walking up to the house together the other day," I said inquisitively.

"Yeah, we're making progress on that front. At least, I hope we are. I never know with ZigZag. He's always focused on something else, but I'm sure he likes me back. If I wasn't I wouldn't wasted my time," Princess sighed. "I mean one minute we're having a conversation, and the next he's avoiding me."

"I don't think Ziggy really knows how to react around a girl who's seriously interested in him," I said comfortingly. "Just be patient."

"I made a move on Magnet," Dutchess blurted out.

There was a collective pause in the room and we all turned to look at Dutchess.

"When?" Hype asked. She even added in the cocked head to the side.

"A couple of days ago," she sighed. "We were leaving your house, Twist, together. We were talking about what we did for 'school' that day, when I just kissed him."

"What did he do?" TC asked genuinely interested.

"He kissed back."

"So, are you two…together?" I asked cautiously.

"I don't know! He just said 'Goodbye' and left. We haven't talked about it since it happened," she said.

"You should probably talk to him. He probably likes you, but isn't used to the attention," Stranger said. "He seems like he's used to making the first move and you already did that."

"Yeah, he's had a few days to think about it; you need to talk about it," Princess said.

"I guess," Dutchess sighed.

"Okay, now that we're all caught up on that stuff. Let's watch a movie," I said hopping off the bed and over to them.

"Where? The living room? Is your brother here?" Hype asked at rapid speed.

"No, he isn't here. He told me that the guys are having a similar event to ours at Caveman's house," I said walking out of the room. "What do y'all want to watch?"

"I'm in the mood for a movie that isn't scary, but is trying to be. Although it comes off as angst," Stranger said walking over to the movie collection at my house. I had a bad feeling of what she was going to choose. She _always_ chooses the same movie. "The Covenant good for y'all?"

My eye started twitching. "Stranger, as much as we all love that particular movie. How about we watch something else?"

"Well, what did you have in mind?" Stranger said putting the DVD case back onto the shelf.

"How about instead of angst wanting to be horror, we watch a comedy," Hype said from the couch. "I know just the movie: Superbad."

"Fine."

We spread ourselves out around the room, but within good TV viewing distance. I was in the middle of the couch with Hype and Princess on either side of me. TC, Stranger, and Dutchess were using the front of the couch as support for the backs. We soon fell asleep watching McLovin' and his feisty redhead. Hype had curled up and was using the arm of the couch as her pillow. My head was in her lap and my feet were in Princess' lap. Princess was the mirror image of Hype. TC, Stranger, and Dutchess were just lying on the floor sleeping away.

Tomorrow morning would be interesting.

* * *

JainaZekke621: Thanks for the review!

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SAKDG: I'm glad you like Emma. I know there are a billion (well, not really, but you know) stories with the girl who just magically shows up to CGL, and I even dared to do a sequel. It makes me really happy though when I can impress someone with my own. Thanks so much for the review!

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Hey,

Okay so this is the next chapter...duh. I had a burst of energy and creativity after AP exams and all that nonsense. Hoped you liked it. **NOTE: **I put up pictures of Twist and the girls on my profile if you want to check them out. These are the closest to my imagined versions of the characters. Review and tell me what you think!

Love always,

Dee


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

_There is something poking my cheek. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away._

"WHAT DO YOU IDIOTS THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!" I heard a voice that sounded an awful lot like TC. I cracked my eyelid open to check. Yep, that's her. Oh, look Caveman and Magnet are the ones who woke her up…idiots. I shut my eyelid back and snuggled farther into my make shift pillow which also happened to be Hype.

_I'm going to punch whatever is poking my cheek._ I raised my fist and swung in no particular direction. _Yes…contact._

"Geez, Twist, what did I ever do to you?" I heard a wheezy voice coming from a boy that I did not know the identity of. Nor did I care at the moment. Prolonging my sleep was my main priority. _What on Earth? WHO is doing that?_ I decided to open my eyes. I found my target: Armpit. Sadly it was Twitch that I hit. Oops.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked in a low voice. I was tired.

"I thought you were dead."

"Wrong answer." I shut my eyes again and turned away from them.

"Oh. Huh?"

"Leave me alone or your body will never be found." I was desperately hanging on to my unconscious state.

"Sorry Twist, but it's time for school," X-Ray said coming over and trying to lift me off the couch. I sat up, but he was going to have to physically remove me from my position on the couch.

"I don't care about school. Besides, it's Friday, let's ditch."

"Silly little sister," Lewis' voice drifted over to me. "How can we ditch when it is at our own home?" He scooted X-Ray to the side and threw me over his shoulder.

"Lewis Arnold Robinson! Put me down this insist," I growled at him.

"Sorry Em…but you need a shower," he said while 'lovingly' throwing me into my tub and turning on the cold shower. Then he ran. Good thing too, because when I'm done, he better pray that I'm in a better mood.

When I finally returned to the living room, I was ready to kill Lewis. But when I entered the living room everyone else was already working on today's assignment. _I might as well do the work now and kill Lewis later. Preferably before my date with Squid. _I sent a glare towards Lewis and started on my work. Math. Ew. Not cool.

Question number one: What is the blah blah blah blah…

_This is going to take forever._

10 years later (okay, more like 4 hours) everyone was finished. I hope I never have to see another Calculus problem again. Lewis fled the house to go surprise Gia during the school's lunch hour…_whipped_. He probably won't get past the office. I started putting up the laptops while everyone was leaving. I noticed Squid hanging behind, and he started to help me with the laptops.

"Hey Hun," I said pecking him on the cheek. _That reminds me: get Armpit back_. "What's up?"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you still wanted to go out tonight," Squid said to me shyly.

"Why wouldn't I still want to go out to night?" I asked confused. Squid is still in his mood.

"I don't know, maybe you wanted to hang out with Sarah or something," he said with a sigh.

"Alan, I want to go out with you. I want to be with you tonight, not with anybody else. I don't care what we do, as long as I'm with you," I said taking his face in my hands. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes…maybe…no, not really," he said quietly. "Mom's been drinking again. It's getting really bad." _Oh no._

"How bad is really bad?" I asked with worry.

He turned around and lifted up his shirt. There were bruises all over it.

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" I asked him sensing his unspoken question.

"Yeah," he said dropping his head.

I did the only thing that I could. I gave him a shoulder to drop his head on. We sat on the couch while the TV play cartoons that we watched when we were too little to know hardships. I was laying down in a similar fashion to Hype's, while Squid rested his head on me as I had done to Hype. I was absent mindedly stroking my fingers through his hair. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but it was somewhat dark out. Lewis wasn't home…probably at Gia's house. I felt Squid's breathing slow down as he fell asleep.

"We'll figure something out tomorrow," I whispered to no one. I wish I could help him more, but he refuses to accept any major form of help. It must be really bad right now because he would never just accept my offer without a fight. I just continued running my fingers through his hair and watching old re-runs of Bugs Bunny until I fell asleep with him.

~*~

I felt myself being brought out of my sleep, and I opened my eyes to see Squid's staring up right back at me.

"Hey," I whispered.

"Hey," he whispered back while putting his head back the way it was. "Sorry we didn't go out tonight."

"I told you that I didn't care as long as I'm with you," I said resuming my task of combing his hair with my fingers.

"But, I'm supposed to be able to take you out whenever," he said sitting up and pulling away from me.

"And I don't care about going out. Why do you all of a sudden?"

"Because I'm your boyfriend!" Squid said standing up quickly. His voice rose a little too. "I'm supposed to be your support system, not the other way around."

"Is that what you think? Because you're the guy you're supposed to offer comfort but not accept it. Alan, I'm your _girlfriend_. I like the fact that you come to me for support, and that I know I can come to you," I said softly and standing up slowly. "You are no less of a boyfriend because you tell me your problems. I want to know your problems, so I can help you go through them."

Squid sank back down on the couch with his head in his hands. I slowly lifted his chin up, so I could look into his eyes.

"Alan Smith, I love you because you're _you_. Don't you for one second think that I'm going to leave you because you have problems. We all have problems, and we're going to work through them _together_." I bent over slightly and gently kissed him on the lips. "Let's go upstairs and go to sleep. We will figure out what to do in the morning about your mother."

I led him up the stairs and into my bedroom. We fell asleep with his head on my chest and my fingers running through his hair.

* * *

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Love always,

Dee


	27. Chapter 27

Only4Miken pointed out that these weren't that great, because I've sorta just given up on the story. I'm revamping 27,28,29,30 to keep them up to par. I will finish this because I woud hate myself if I didn't, but I'm just not feeling it anymore.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Well, look what we have here," Lewis' obnoxious voice was permeating my brain. "Little Emma and her Squidly-poo, what excuse could you possibly have for this, dear sister?"

I opened up my eyes to a familiar head full of curly brown hair…Squid. I turned my head to see Lewis leaning against my door frame. _Oh dear…_

"Get out," I said feeling Squid starting to wake up.

"Well, my little ray of sunshine, unless you want Dad and Mom to come in and see your visitor, then I think it best that I stay."

"What do you want?" Squid said sitting up.

"I want to know why you are in my sister's bed," Lewis said standing up straight.

"Lewis, as much as I love your fake concerned "older brother" act, it's none of you business," I said getting out of bed. I was still my clothes from the day before, and was sort of stiff. I did not want to be messed with.

"I could tell Mom and Dad."

"And I could tell Mom and Dad how many times you've spent the night at Gia's, so back off." He didn't know that I knew that. He underestimates the fact Gia tells me everything, whether or not I want to hear it is another topic.

With a final glare at Squid, Lewis left the room. _Smart move_.

"Sorry, Lewis can't get beyond the cliché version of an older brother," I said turning towards Squid. He had rolled back over my puffy duvet. It was an amusing picture.

He didn't say anything.

"How are you today?" I said getting back on the bed with him. I really did not want to get into the same conversation we had last night, but he probably still needed to talk about it.

Silence.

"You know, I can't read your mind." I hate when he does this. He thinks that he shouldn't show his feelings because he's a guy. Get a clue: these conversations are between us. I, unlike Gia, like privacy.

I took a hold of his hand. _Please realize I need you to reach out to me._

…

"I'm tired," were his words. _Finally_.

"Me too, it's Saturday, we shouldn't be awake this early." _Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it again. Bittersweet conclusion._

"No, I mean I'm tired…of everything." _Nope, he does, but he's trying to make me feel like he doesn't. I know you better than that sweetie._

"Well, what do you want to do about it?" _Again, with the I'm here you can tell me whatever you want line. He needs to realize I'm not leaving him to defend for himself._

"I…I don't know." _Yes, you do. You just can't say it._

"I think you should go to the police." _I can say it._

Squid's face turned hard. "Yeah, and then what? The police hate me; they hate all of us. They wouldn't do anything." Y_ou and I both know that's not true. You just see that as betrayal._

"Alan, your mom needs help. I think you need to realize she can't be your responsibility anymore." _Please admit you agree with me; I know you do._

Squid turned towards me. "She's my mom." _I know._

"She's hurting you." _You know._

"I can't." _I__ disagree._

"You won't." _And we both know it._

"No, I won't." _You're too loyal for your own good._

"You'll have to." _Not really, but he probably should._

"No, I won't." _But, I want you to. I can't watch you like this anymore._

"Yes, you will. I was going to tell everyone tomorrow, but Monday we all have to testify." That will be the hardest day in our lifetime.

"That doesn't mean that I have to turn my mom in." _I know, but it will easier than just turning her in._

"They're going to ask about why you stole." _You have to tell the truth._

"I'll lie." _I know, and it make me want to cry._

"Alan…" _please listen to me_

"Emma, I just don't think I can take the whole town looking at me like a victim." _But you aren't a victim_.

"Alan…" _just please_

"They will, you know they will. Sure, they'll understand why I did what I did, but I can't take being looked at like I'm weak." _They won't think that._

"Alan Smith, you are anything but weak. You love your mom, which is not a weakness. Your weakness is not knowing how to help her, and not hurt her at the same time. I think it would be a good wake up call for her."

He looks away from me and towards the door. A hard expression remains on his face.

"I won't." _I know, and it make me want to cry._

* * *

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Hey everyone!

Short filler chapter. Writing the next now, and hopefully up by tonight!

Love always,

Dee


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"I would like to call Miss Emma Robinson to the stand, your Honor." I looked up from my seat to the mahogany built witness stand. But, I wasn't playing the witness today. I was here, along with my friends, to testify to get back into school. That's right, it's now Monday. We all get to testify…in front of each other…and the whole school…yay. I'm first…double yay. I walked my way up to the stand and swore in on the Bible. I took my seat and prepared myself for the barrage of questions coming my way. The prosecutor was a man in his late fifties. Then again, most lawyers are old because they're in school forever...I digress. The prosecutor looked like he hadn't bathed in days. I may have only had three minute showers, but I took one everyday.

"Miss Robinson, do you know why you are here to testify today?" Mr. Slimy asked me. He was holding his folder in front of him, and he was looking at it. Not at me, it. Intimidation moves. I grew up with a lawyer buddy, I know the tricks.

"Yes." _Because I obviously wouldn't figure out by now why I was taking the school to trial._

"Could you explain to the jury the reason?" He finally looked up at me. Hooked nose. Reminded me of a cartoon character.

"I'm here, along with my friends, to prove that we should be allowed back into school because the reason for our expulsion was ridiculous." I hate the fact that lawyers have to ask questions that the answers are obvious...to everyone. I started to pick at my sleeve.

"You think that a parent being concerned for their children's safety is ridiculous?" He asked. I swear his caterpillar eyebrows raised two inches.

"No, I think parents who think they know everything about something that they actually have no inkling about is ridiculous." I.E. Me and my friends.

"Well, how about you tell the jury, me, and the rest of the court room exactly why you were sent to Camp Green Lake." Of course, I thought you would never ask, especially since this is what this whole trial is about. I look around the court room and see most of the students from school there. I think that the school allowed them to come because it pertained to the school.

"Fine." I give you the gory details.

***

"_Bye guys! I'll see you tomorrow," I said walking away from Gia, Rachel, and Sarah to go home. We had just seen the latest blockbuster movie, and it was awesome. I love action movies, especially with the eye candy to look at. _

"_Are you sure you don't want a ride home? It's pretty late," Gia said from her car window. I had walked to the movie theater from my house because it started earlier in the day. It was after dark now, and Gia being the worry-wort she is, is freaking out._

"_Yeah, I'm fine. I want to think some stuff and walking home gives me time to do that," I said walking along side her car. Rachel was in the passenger's seat, while Sarah laid out in the back. "Besides, I don't think there's room."_

"_Okay, well, see you tomorrow at school," she called out her window as she sped off. Tire marks were on the pavement. Girlfriend is going to get a ticket one day, and I'm going to laugh. I was walking on the sidewalk like any good pedestrian should, and trying to balance on the very edge of the curb like any five year old does. I'm the perfect mix of both. I was thinking about how next year was Senior year. I finally get to do the electives I want, and I get to go to Prom. I get to start applying to colleges. Houston University is my first and only choice. I couldn't imagine going anywhere else. _

_A clammy wrinkled hand comes out of nowhere and covers my mouth. His other arm starts to wrap around my body._

"_Scream and your dead," a deep voice said. Oh my god. I'm going to die. This can't be happening. Why didn't I go with Gia. "Now, walk calmly towards that alley, and nobody will get hurt._

_I start walking because every Law and Order episode has taught me that it will be worse if I don't do what he says until I get a chance to retaliate. He walks me towards the back of an alley way. _

_"I have a gun, when I remove my hands, if you try anything a bullet will blast through your skull."_

_I feel his arms disentangle themselves from my body. I remain facing away from him, because I going to do what I have to do right. I rammed my elbow into the jerk's stomach, which made him double over in pain. I spun around to face my attacker. I was in a rage. How dare someone try to...I can't even think it. I kicked him to the ground and started wailing on him. I could feel the crack of his nose break from one of my blows. I think I fractured a few ribs, but it's what he deserves. I feel the tears falling from my face, but nothing is registering in my mind. I hear the sirens approaching. The next thing I know, a set of arms is prying me off the freak. I start struggling because I think the creep has back up trying to take me now. I look up and see a policeman, and I stop struggling. I'm full out sobbing now, and thanking the Lord that someone called the police. Then, I felt cold metal handcuffs around my wrists as I was being pushed into the back a police car._

***

"So, what you're saying is you were arrested because you were defending yourself?" Mr. Slimy was looking at my folder again, checking to see if my stories matched up.

"Yep." I look away from the Slim ball to look at my friends. Only Lewis and Squid knew the details of my attack, and I wanted to see the rest of their reactions. All the guys looked prepared for a fight. The girls were crying silently, why? Only then I realized that I started crying halfway through my story. I look to the rest of my audience, my so called peers, they all looked horrified or ashamed. _You finally realize that not everything is as it seems._

"Then why were _you_ sent to Camp Green Lake, if it was just in self defense?" My attention snaps back to Mr. Slimy.

"Because I did a lot of damage to the guy, and it looked like I attacked him. People tend to believe the bruised and battered older guy, than the girl without a scratch." I wiped my tears away with the inside of my sleeve.

"Could you tell me about Camp Green Lake?"

"Have you ever imagined what Hell would be? If you have, Camp Green Lake might not be exactly like it, but it is its own kind of Hell on Earth."

"Why?"

Millions of scenarios flashed through my brain.

"I guess you didn't pay attention to the news coverage of the 'camp' shutting down. I'll give you a synapses of it. You wake up at 4:30 a.m. every morning. There is no such thing as a week-end. Breakfast consists of a honey covered tortilla: one per person. You get in line for a shovel. You walk for half an hour into a desert like atmosphere. You start to dig. You dig a five foot by five foot hole everyday, your shovel is your measuring stick. Lunch comes around 1 p.m. Remember, you haven't eaten anything but a honey tortilla since 4:30 a.m.; that's eight and a half hours. You get sulfur flavored water to keep you hydrated. There is no shade, no wind, and no rain. If the heat doesn't kill you, a rattlesnake or a yellow spotted lizard might. One bite and you're dead." I gave this speech in the steadiest voice I could. I looked at every single face in the room to see the horrified looks coming to the surface.

"Well, you seem to have made friends." He's trying to be humerus.

"Well, when your only form of entertainment is digging a hole, complaining about it together sort of forms a bond between people."

"Miss Robinson, could you tell me about your experience at school once you returned?" Yes, change the subject.

"All, but three of my friends before Camp Green Lake decided I was scum. I was a pariah and singled out."

"Singled out how?"

"I was under a microscope. I had to be really early or I would be counted absent. I wasn't allowed to participate in home economics because they thought I would kill someone. People I considered good friends wouldn't even speak to me, some even ran away."

"Did anybody ever threaten you? I mean it sounds like you were quite the outcast."

"No, but there were a lot of 'Go back to juvie, you freak, nobody wants you here', which was true. I wasn't wanted there."

"Well, if you weren't wanted there, why do you want to go back so badly? That is what this case is about."

I looked back down at the mahogany wood and concentrated for a minute. I looked straight into his eyes and said, "I may not have been wanted, but it is a _public_ school. I never threatened anybody or purposely put someone in harms way. I deserved an education at a school, even if nobody wants me there. It's my right to be there."

"The accusations against you make it seem like you were a bully."

"I wasn't a bully. I would never do anything to get arrested again."

"Why?"

"I've been to one Hell, I don't wish to discover another."

"That's all, your Honor."

I stepped down from my wooded platform, and back to my seat. I was trying not to cry.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

As I walked over to my seat, you could hear a pin drop. I sat down and smoothed out my skirt. I had said my peace, and that was all I could do. I watched as the jury caught up on taking notes about what I said, and Mr. Slimy was taking his sweet time to call the next person to the stand. I wonder who it could be. I stiffened as the prosecutor called Lewis's name. Lewis walked calmly over to stand, and he took his time swearing in on the Bible. To everyone he looked as if he didn't have a care in the world. I knew he was trying not to fall apart.

"Mr. Robinson, you are the twin brother of Miss Emma Robinson?" was Mr. Slimy's opening question.

"Older by two minutes." Lewis started to pick at the wood. I felt bad because I knew exactly what was going through his mind. _I wish I could die_.

"How is it that you and your sister get sent to the same juvenile camp within the span of a year?" Yes, Mr. Slimy is trying to be slick again. Trying to make it out that we are genetically wired as bad kids. Because that is of course the only reason we would both be sent to Hell.

"Bad luck."

"Bad luck indeed. You were the first of the two of you to get sent to Camp Green Lake, yes?" He was looking at Lewis' file now.

"Yes," Lewis' voice started sounding constricted. Crap, Dad always pulls this trick on him: make it seem like you don't care, so the truth will come out.

"How did you get sent to Camp Green Lake, Mr. Robinson?" Yes, get to the point.

"Well…" Lewis trailed off and began to retell his adventure with his once good friend.

***

"_Dude, are you sure about this?" I asked my friend Dylan. We were standing under the stands in the football stadium outside the school. It was in the middle of the night. I don't even know why I'm here, Dylan just said it was urgent._

"_Lew, could you chill out? Nothing is going to happen," Dylan said running across the football field towards the school. Crap, do I have to follow him? I'm not in the mood to play spy. I look both ways making sure that there is no one else out here before sprinting across the field. We could get in serious trouble for being here._

"_How on earth could you know that?" I wheezed out. I'm so not in shape, maybe I should start working out...nah. "We could be sent to prison if we get caught."_

"_No we wouldn't. We would only get suspended for a few days for trespassing," Dylan said in a perfectly fine voice, "Oh, __I have my ways of knowing things."_

"_Which would be?" I was not getting in trouble for this crap. We were walking with our backs against the school trying to remain undetected._

"_Your sister told me early today that the security guard had a cold," Dylan whispered as he turned a corner._

"_How does Emma know that?" I really wouldn't be surprised though; she talks to everyone about everything._

"_She offered him a tissue when he sneezed, and they had a chat about germs. I was lucky enough to be told the story during lunch." He pointed towards the door that we were going to be entering through. Wait....entering? _

"_Lucky you, I know how exciting her stories can be" I said following him towards the back gym door. It was supposedly unlocked at night, and wasn't covered by a camera. "Why are we here again?"_

"_Mrs. Piper took my phone today because it went off, and I need it back. My parents would flip if they had to come down here to pick it up," Dylan said while slipping into the gym._

_I stopped in my tracks, "That's why you dragged me here? To get your stupid phone?" I started to turn back around. I'm not here to get a freaking cell phone._

"_Yes, now keep moving. Carl may have the sniffles, but he's still here," Dylan said dragging me back on his path to Mrs. Piper's room. The hallways of our school are quite creepy at night. I didn't realize that we were taught in a haunted building because there should be no shadows in a windowless hallway. When we finally reached Mrs. Piper's room it was locked. Well, that should have been an obvious obstacle. Oh well, I guess we can leave._

"_Dude, how do you expect to get in her room for your phone?" I asked skeptically. Yes! I want to leave and go back to bed._

_He pulled a credit card out of his pocket…no joke. This is not Ocean's Eleven._

"_This isn't a movie, Dylan. That isn't going to work." I said walking back down the hallway. I look back to see if he's following me...nope. He's trying to make the credit card trick work._

"_Oh yes it is." He went to work on the door with his stupid credit card while I listened for any signs of Carl. "I TOLD YOU IT WOULD WORK!" he screamed when the door knob turned the whole way. Could he be anymore idiotic? _

"_Could you not yell? We don't exactly want to be found," I snapped, "Just open the door, get your phone, and then we can leave."_

_He just smirked and pulled the door open. Guess what happened. The lights turn on and the alarm starts going off. Great._

"_RUN!!!" Dylan yelled running in the opposite direction of where we came. I hesitate for a second. Could I really make it out? I guess I'd better try. I went running back towards the gym. I was cursing so loudly in my head. If I got caught I was going to kill Dylan. He so owes me for this. I wanted to sleep, but no, I help him break into school._

"_Hey you! Kid! Stop where you are!" I heard Carl's voice coming from behind me. Hearing his heavy shoes hit the ground that fast made me think Dylan was lying about it cold. He's old, a cold would cripple him. I started pushing myself faster trying to out run the rent-a-cop. I was almost out the gym door when I felt the most excruciating pain in my life. It was coming from my butt. Carl the Rent-a-Cop had tasered my butt. I fell the floor spazing out from the electric current. The next thing a saw was Carl's smile about me, "Kid, you are under arrest."_

***

"So, unlike your sister, you think you deserve your punishment?" Mr. Slimy was half sitting on his desk and was looking down his nose at Lewis.

"No, I think Dylan should have been arrested because he brought me with him into that stupid scheme," Lewis responded bitterly. I knew he resented the fact he get tasered in the butt, no matter how humorous it was. He still has two circle burn marks there. Funny.

"Well, unfortunately that is not how the law works," Slimy said with a smile, "It says in your file that you were sent to the hospital half way through your sentence at Camp Green Lake. Why was that?"

"I purposefully got a rattlesnake to bite my toe." Lewis looked proud about that. Yes, dear brother your intelligence is astounding.

"Why?" Mr. Slimy agrees with me.

"Death seemed preferable at the time." Lewis looked at me and smiled an apology, and then he did the same in Gia's direction. Weirdly, I don't blame him. Death was preferable then.

"What were your feelings when you woke up in the hospital?" Mr. Slimy had risen from the desk and was slowly walking towards Lewis.

"I felt that I should have gotten a yellow spotted lizard to bite my foot. Then I found out Emma got sent, then I laughed," Lewis said in a serious voice. Everybody now thinks you are psychotic, way to go.

"You laughed?" Again, Slimy agrees with me.

"I thought it was funny my five foot tall sister kicked an attacker's butt and then got to sent to, as she put it 'Hell on Earth'. It wasn't really a funny laugh, more of a 'you've got to be kidding me' laugh." Lewis was starting to pick at the wood again.

"How about when you were at school, how did you feel about it? Were you laughing then?" Transitions...I like it. Mr. Slimy was pacing now.

"No, but then again, no teenager would laugh because they were at school. School sucks in general, but being an outcast after you were one of the loved ones sucks more." Lewis said looking out at our 'peers'.

"Why do you think you were outcast?" _Oh let's see_....

Lewis stopped picking at the wood and gave Mr. Slimy his full attention.

"I am and forever ever will be looked upon as the kid who went to a detention center."

"That's all, you Honor," Mr. Slimy said walking back towards his desk.

He grabbed another file from his stack. No joke the stack was about a foot tall. I felt Lewis sit down next to me again, so I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He squeezed mine back to show that he was okay.

"Next, is Miss Isabella Poland," Mr. Slimy called out. This should be interesting. Stranger rose from the row behind me, and slowly walked to the stand and swore in so quietly, it was almost silent.

"Miss Poland, I assume you know what I'm going to ask you. So if you could just tell us how you ended up at Camp Green Lake."

Stranger glared at Mr. Slimy.

***

_"Freak," Samantha Grimes hissed as I passed by. It was a Wednesday afternoon. I had just given a presentation on the subject of suicide. Apparently, that made me an 'emo'. It was about whether or not both parties were selfish about the subject. I just made the point that even though the person committing suicide was selfish in their actions, it is also selfish for people to make them live a life they can't bear to be in. But, of course, there was more to it than that. It seemed to me, everyone thought I condoned the act of taking one's own life. Wrong. I just kept walking, ignoring my torturer for the past month. Alas, it would seem she had other ideas._

_Knocking my books the the ground, Samantha stepped in front of me, "Why don't you just go kill yourself if you think suicide is okay? My sister committed suicide; do you think it's selfish of me to wish she was alive?" A circle of students started forming around us. The daily 'Samantha is going to torture Isabella' has begun._

_"I think you're selfish because you didn't even notice your sister was unhappy, I mean you are pretty self absorbed," I said, and I almost immediately regretted it. I knew you couldn't always notice those things, but Samantha was grating on my nerves. I was sick of listening to her nasally voice every day._

_She slammed me into the lockers behind me, "Watch it freak. I will cut up your face. I'll make it match your wrists. Too bad you wouldn't be able to cover that scar up." I could feel the cold metal seeping through my shirt. If she thought this would scare me after doing it to me at least once a week, she was wrong. She is usually wrong about everything she says about me. I do have scratches on my wrists, but I didn't put them there. Samantha's an idiot who couldn't tell the difference between cutting scars and kitten claw scratches. _

_I pushed her off of me and back towards her snotty friends, "I'd like to see you try." I bent down to pick up my books. I was really over her trying to scare me. She is nothing but a veiled threat. After I gathered my things, I started to walk away. I'm not thirteen any more; I don't need this drama in my life._

_"Don't walk away from me you blue haired freak!" she screamed. I turned around just as she pulled a pocket knife from her pocket. She pulled me back towards her, and I felt searing pain down my cheek. I stood shocked for a moment. I touched where my cheek was throbing, and when I pulled my hand back it was dripping blood. Adrenaline filled my system; I punched her in the nose. She stood still for a moment, which was when I stole the pocket knife out of her hand. Then I plunged it into her thigh; she started bleeding immediately. I was calm again, so I started gathering my books again. I was about to walk to my next class when the school's cop got there just as Samantha regained her senses and pointed her manicure finger at me. Needless to say, I was in trouble._

***

So that was how Stranger got her scar. I never really asked her about it.

"So, you were also arrested for self defense?" Mr. Slimy said, he was again perched against his desk. Reoccurring theme. I looked behind me to examine the faces of our 'classmates', some were starting to look sick. Others were disgustingly intrigued...like if they wrote about us we could be some deranged Lifetime movie.

"No, I meant to stab her. I could have walked away after I punched her." _Do not laugh. _Everyone could tell that Stranger meant it, but then again I would have meant it too.

"So, you have a violent streak?" Mr. Slimy asked. What are we a psychologist now?

"When people physically attack me, I tend to lash out." Yes, sarcasm...the greatest thing on the planet. Especially when paired with Stranger's 'duh' expression.

"Do you think you deserve to go back to school?" Mr. Slimy asked her in complete seriousness.

"Yes, I haven't threatened or hurt anyone. It's a public school why shouldn't I be allowed back?" Stranger said as though it were obvious.

"That's all."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Stranger was again slowly walking back towards her seat. Her expression did not betray one emotion. She was stoic. Then again, she never shows emotion. Mr. Slimy was rifling through his foot tall stack. He pick up a file and looked through it quickly. He seemed satisfied and called out, "Mr. Rex Walters." Oh goodness. X-Ray swaggered up to the stand, and I don't even think he knew what he swore to do under oath.

"It's X-Ray." Crap, this is not the time to do this.

"I'm sorry?" Mr. Slimy look genuinely confused.

X-Ray leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms before saying, "My name is X-Ray. And you've been callin' everyone by the wrong name," he said proudly. Lewis and Squid were on either side of me trying not to laugh. I was horrified. This is not the setting to be correcting some one so they will call you be a _nickname_. I couldn't laugh even if I wanted to.

"I have? Well, would you care to enlighten me on the proper names of your friends?" Mr. Slimy had shut X-Ray's file closed. Oh God, why does this always happen.

X-Ray sat up straighter and started to point to us as he said our names, "Twist, Barfbag, Stranger, TC, ZigZag, Princess, Magnet, Dutchess, Armpit, Hype, Caveman, Zero, and Squid." I sunk down into my seat. Lewis waved when his was called. I elbowed him in the stomach. I looked around, everyone seemed amused...well, everyone except the judge.

"Well, thank you…X-Ray. How did you come to have these names?" The folder wasn't even in his hand anymore. NO, DON'T PLAY THIS GAME WITH HIM!

"Everybody at Green Lake got 'em. You ain't apart of it 'til you got one." X-Ray had resumed his relaxed position. I was going to kill him when this was over.

"Did the Warden give these nicknames to you?" Why are you interested in this?

"Nah, the leaders of each tent give 'em. I'm the leader of D-tent." He _shrugged_, one doesn't shrug on the stand.

"How did you get to be the leader?" Picking the folder back up, good Mr. Slimy. Get back on questioning track.

"The one's that's been there the longest is the leader." X-Ray stop looking at the man as if he's an idiot! Don't raise your eyebrow at authority.

"Didn't you finish your sentence at Camp Green Lake before the rest of your friends were let out?" The file's back open. Yes, time for seriousness.

"Yeah, then Squid became the leader. Twist was the leader for the girls, but they got the names from me." NO! Stop mentioning me! This is about you and what you did!

"Hmmm…would you say that your tent mates would do anything for you?" Mr. Slimy, I'm catching on to you. No, please say no, X.

"Yeah, D-tent sticks together." We are so dead.

"How about you tell me how you were sent to Camp Green Lake." Mr. Slimy smiles as if he just cracked a huge case. X-Ray you are dead to me.

***

_It was flippin' cold tonight. I hate doin' this. I was standing under a street light in the middle of the night. My jacket was starting to thin out because of its age, and I was freezing. And I'm not allowed to leave until two a.m. I guess shuffling back and forth helps with the warmth a little bit._

"_Hey man, you got me for eighty?" some punk comes up to me. I look over at him. He's dressed in a wife beaters and basketball shorts...and flip flops. Freak of nature. It's the same kid from the past four nights. I didn't like his vibe, so I'd always turn him down. He always asks for the same things. I hear the grass crunching under his flip flops as he come to a stop in front of me._

"_No, and I won't ever. I don't do that." I think you need to leave me alone before the boss finds out. I could get in some serious trouble if he knew I was turning down business._

"_Fine, what else you got?" He asks finally catching on, that I ain't gonna give him crack....well, I'm not going to give him anything._

"_Nothin' for you. Now get out of here." I do not want to sick Greg on you, but I will. Rule One: don't harass the dealer. Any wise addict knows this, so he's a first timer. I'm not getting another kid hooked._

"_Come on man, why not?" Because I value your life._

"_Because I don't like you. Go harass someone else." Go to Johnny around the block, he'll sell you anything._

"_I know your boss; I don't think he'd like you holdin' out on me." Great, just what I need Boss getting on back about being rude to friends._

"_Fine, I got your eighty." I dig in my worn out pocket for the stuff. I look at him. "Show me the cash." He pulls it out of his pocket. We did the swap. He walked away. At least I don't have to deal with him anymore. It's so cold. I wish that I could go back home and live with Pops, but he won't as long as I do this. I have to do this to survive. It's this job, or no life._

"_HANDS! HANDS! HANDS!" Some crazy police woman…I think…was running towards me. I threw my hands up and got down on the ground. It's so cold. "YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR SELLING CRACK COCAINE!" She then stuffed her hand down my pocket to get the money. Turns out punk was an under cover. "Hey boys, we got our money back!" Cold metal handcuffs were placed around my wrists. They only add to the cold. I looked at her and she smiled at me because she 'got the bad guy', and I smiled back because I didn't have to stand in the cold into the heated car was the best part of my night._

***

"Arrested for selling drugs, although, it doesn't sound like you wanted to." Mr. Slimy is...guess...on the desk. I think that has become he preferred listening spot. Trying to seem interested, and that your life is like a fairy tale one would read to a toddler. Yeah, fairy tales for the mentally disturbed.

"Nah, but you try telling the 'Boss' that." X-Ray was picking lent off of his blazer. Still nonchalant.

"But, you never hurt anybody, just got them addicted to drugs." Mr. Slimy was doing his lawyering tactics. _Addiction is the same._

"Wasn't in the dealer description to hurt the customers. If they didn't pay, the Boss had other people for that." Oh yes, tell him the ins and outs of your drug dealing days.

"So, do you think you are a threat to your peers in school?" Mr. Slimy was looking at X-Ray like this answer was the answer to life.

"Nah, I wouldn't hurt a fly." X-Ray grinned so wide at his joke, but nobody else laughed. X-Ray walked his way back over to his seat when the judge dismissed him.

"Now Miss Charlotte Fletcher," Mr. Slimy drawled, "Or would you prefer for me to call you TC?" The crowd softly laughed.

"Charlie is fine," TC said as she swore in. I watched as a smile made its way onto her face. "I guess you want to hear about my little adventure."

"If you would?" Mr. Slimy smiled back.

"Alright. And I won't leave out any gory details."

***

'_I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.' I was walking down the banner covered hallway in search of some peace. I needed to leave school, but I could get expelled if I left campus one more time. I turned the corner only to see some freshman gaping at me. He seemed at a loss for words. I glared at him, which seemed to shake him out of his stupor._

"_HEY! Aren't you the girl that-?" He started to yell across the hallway. I marched my way over to him, which caused him to lose confidence in talking to me. Yes, don't mess with the 5'9" redheaded girl, because she will beat you. _

"_Yes, I'm the girl that slept with your boyfriend," I said sarcastically, which is apparently lost on some people._

"_Um…I'm not gay," the freshman guy said to me. I think he was scared, he was shaking more than a freshman should._

"_Really, never would have guessed," I said. Purposefully giving him a once over. There was actually nothing wrong with his outfit, but he didn't need to know that. I snorted then continued on my path to find solitude. 'I don't care what they think.'_

"_Aren't you the girl that streaked during the pep rally?" Apparently the freshman found his voice again, and decided to yell his question across the hall to me. I marched right back over to him. He backed into the wall scared for his life._

"_First, I wasn't naked, so it can't technically be called streaking. Second, why do you care?" I placed my hands on either side of his head with the most intimidating stare I could think of._

"_Well, why'd you do it?" his little voice cracked at least three times. Maybe I was pushing it with the intimidation._

"_I needed the cash. Is this little interview over?" I said with a pointed glare. Freshman ran away with his tail in between his legs. I resumed stalking in the direction I came from._

"_Needed the cash, huh? That's not what I heard," said a nasally voice to my left. _

"_Good for you I don't care about what you heard," I said whipping around to face my best friend Kyle. He was leaning against the lockers with a smirk on his face._

_"Stop scaring the freshmen, they're going to be scared for life. You know that you did that because Erica Taylor stole your clothes from the locker room while you were taking a shower. You forgot __that the pep rally had already started and were running towards the storage closet for extra clothes." Kyle said trying to keep a straight face. I continued on my war path down the hallway._

"_Shut up, what was the spectacular reason you heard, and who did you hear it from?" Kyle was speed walking to keep up with me._

"_I heard that you did it because you wanted to advertise to the entire football team your panties and want they could get. I heard it from Miss Erica Taylor herself," he said with a smile. I stopped dead in my tracks._

"_I'm going to kill her." I said turning towards him._

"_You'd better do it fast, or there will be more nasty lies spread about you. Although, I don't know who would believe you would sleep with the football team, most people think you're a lesbian." He said in thought. _

_I punched him in the gut. Now, off to find one Erica Taylor. If I were a skank, where would I be? The girl's bathroom. I had searched three bathrooms before I found her. She was fixing her eyeliner and mascara. I glared at her reflection in the mirror trying to make it explode. She finally noticed my death stare and had the audicity to smile at me._

"_Hey, Charlie, what's up?" She looked at me for a brief second then went back to her make up._

_I yanked her around to face me. I was not going to put up with her crap any longer. I'm sick of walking through the hall ways hearing the rumors about me that she spread._

"_Charlie, what's the matter? I thought you would like me spreading rumors to contradict the lesbian rumor that was started." She smiled even bigger because she thought I wouldn't do anything._

"_Yeah, by you," I said before I knocked her out with one punch. I stood over her for a moment watching the blood gush from her fake nose. I smiled. I walked back out of the bathroom like nothing had ever happened. Later that day I got a phone call that charges were being held against me. I didn't know the Queen Bee was the school superintendent's daughter. Off to court for me._

***

"So you were sent to Camp Green Lake because of violence?" Mr. Slimy stated the obvious.

"Technically, it was because of the influence from the prosecutor. If she wasn't the daughter of the superintendent I would have gotten out of school suspension and that would have been that." TC replied honestly. First offence of violence is no school for you for a week. Because _that's_ a punishment.

"But, it was because of violence." Technically, but who cares about technicalities.

"Sorry if after two years of being harassed I snapped." Yes, TC make the jury feel guilty for you.

"Do you think you should be let back in school?" Mr. Slimy asked for the fifth time that day.

"Yes." Honest and to the point.

"But, the students there were harassing you. Couldn't you have snapped again?" Mr. Slimy put the folder on his desk.

TC thought for a moment. She crossed her legs and crossed her arms and gave the most honest answer she could, "Maybe, but I doubt it. I would never want to risk going to a place like Green Lake again."

"Why?"

"Because it was Hell."

"That's all."

* * *

Just so you guys don't think I'm a drug addict. I only know that "You got me for eighty" means you want cocaine is because I watch Policewomen of Broward County on TLC.

Only4Miken: Thanks for your reviews, they helped me put stuff into perspective. I wasn't pissed.

JainaZekk621: Thanks so much for your reviews! I love how you review on almost if not every chapter!

Love always,

Dee


	31. Chapter 31

Okay this chapter isn't as funny as the others...it's shows a darker thought process to Armpit. This chapter is just him. I thought if anybody else was in it, it would take away from him.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-One

TC was walking back to her chair when I decided to take a look around the court room. I saw our parents (sans Mommy Squid), a few teacher (Mrs. Piper was there unfortunately), and a more than a couple students. I saw some old friends, such as Dylan. I wonder what he was thinking about when Lewis was saying it was basically his fault for getting him sent to Camp Green Lake. I wonder if anybody else saw the people from their old lives.

"If a Mr. Theodore Spears will come to the stand," Mr. Slimy ground out.

We all watched as Armpit stood, slowly walked toward the stand, and swore the oath all while looking straight at the jury. I hated this day. Nobody, especially Armpit, should be reduced to begging people to see that we aren't bad people.

"Now, would you prefer if I called you by Theodore or Armpit," the Slime slipped out.

"As much as I know you want to call me Armpit, Theodore is my name," Armpit said looking Slimy in the eyes before turning his attention to a woman in the back: his mom. I recognized her from a picture Theodore once showed me. In the picture she looked happy, here she just looked old.

"Fine. Theodore, do you come from a good family?"

"The best," Armpit said still looking at his mom. _Goodness, he is going to make me cry._

"Really? If you came from 'the best family', then how did you end up in Camp Green Lake?"

"I'll tell you from the beginning."

"Let's hear it then."

***

"_THEODORE! DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!"_ _a woman around age forty yelled to me. She somewhat resembled my mother. She was standing in the middle of the doorway to our house…or what was ever as close to a house can be. She was holding a spatula in one hand while the other was pointing at me. I looked up at her face. If anyone saw it they would see the anger there, but because it was me I saw the tears trying not to escape. "Theodore, I'm your mother. You will do as a say."_

"_You aren't my mom."_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_I said, 'you aren't my mom.' My mom would never let that filth even touch me or Nellie."_

"_Vic has been nothing but nice to you! He's a cop for Heaven's sake! Why would he break the law?"_

_I was tired of listening to the crap spilling from her lips. Yeah, it was true that Vic was a cop. But, that didn't mean he didn't act like a criminal. I couldn't care less if he hurt me again, but if he laid his hand on Nellie one more time…let's just say he won't be around for much longer._

_Nellie didn't remember Dad…died when she was a baby and she's only seven now. But I do. If he saw what that creep was doing to his baby girl, he'd agree with me one hundred percent about killing him. The fact that Vic was on the police squad whose stray bullet killed my father might have something to do with it._

_I remember the first time ma brought Vic home...it was about three years ago. He seemed decent enough at the time, but when ma went to go grab her purse his stance changed. Nellie came skipping into the room happy as a clam, and screamed when she saw Vic. I tried to tell her it was ma's date, but she wouldn't stop (she wasn't good around strangers…especially men). Before I could get her to calm down or ma came back into the room, Vic smacked her across the face. I was so shocked I couldn't even think of anything to do before ma came back and left. She just assumed that Nellie was crying because she tripped or something. _

_I had circled the block once before coming back to our so called family home. Yeah, that's right they got married. I was walking up the steps when I heard the commotion from the inside. _

"_You stupid bitch!" that was Vic's voice. I burst into the room to see if I could stop what was going to happen._

_I saw Vic standing in the middle of the living room with Nellie cowering in the corner. Vic was still in uniform, so he still had his gun on him. I saw him reaching for it. He was probably just going to point it at Nellie to scare her, but I'd had enough of Vic. I glanced at Nellie once last time before running over and trying to grab the gun. He tried to pull it away from my grasp. I hadn't noticed that the barrel's direction had moved away from either of us, but towards Nellie. I thought that the safety lock was on, so I gave it one last tug. _

_The last thing I remember is hearing the gun go off and Nellie's scream._

_***_

I had tears running down my face. I didn't know that was why Armpit wanted Caveman to call his mom. How did bad fortune seem to find the best people?

"So, you killed your sister?"

"No, she didn't die, but she's permanently paralyzed for the rest of her life."

"How did you get off by only going to Camp Green Lake?" I glanced at Slimy. He didn't even seem interested, while the rest of the court room had taken a meaningful silence.

"The court proved that Vic was abusing my sister because she had injuries that weren't explained by a gun shot. I went to Green Lake because I only had the intent to protect my sister, but they thought if I hadn't of done anything Nellie wouldn't have been shot. That's probably true, but now she can't be hurt by Vic ever again."

"No, not by Vic. But do you think that she wanted to live for the rest of her life on the dependency of your mother." Slimy was making an effort to spin this so Armpit still seemed like an evil being.

Armpit stiffened in his chair and looked at Slimy in the eyes, "I'm sure my mother would rather care for her the rest of her life instead of being ignorant to a worthless human being beating her behind her back."

* * *

JainaZekk621: Thanks for the review!

Nelle07: Thanks for the review!

YummiKiwiDelicious: Thanks for the review!

Anmapafi: Thanks for the story fav!

HolesNewsiesFreak: Thanks for the story fav!

Love always,

Dee


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty-Two

The judge decided that we needed a break from all our testimonies after Armpit's story. The Slime ball looked really smug…which is not good. It's never good when the prosecutor thinks they have the upper hand. Now we mostly have to play on the juries' hearts; show them that what we did was all circumstantial. We had an hour recess until we had to be back in court.

We all decided to go outside to get some air, but nobody spoke a word walking down the hallway. We couldn't even look at each other. All our stories are super personal, even though we all knew somewhat what happened to each other. I liked keeping the details on my story to myself, and now it's just out there. Everybody knows…and I don't know if I'm okay with that.

We finally reached the doors to the outside of the court house; since I was in front I opened the doors…big mistake. The only thing I saw were the flashing lights that accompanied the blurred question from the press. I was yanked back inside before I could turn around.

"You aren't supposed to go outside!" my daddy scolded.

"I can't take being held captive in here," Hype whimpered.

"Well your testifying when go back in there," Daddy said patting her on the back.

"Why are other people allowed in there with us?" Princess asked.

"Because it's a public trial, and it gives them a sense that if they can hear it means that you aren't dangerous."

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard," TC said.

Agreed. Why should I give the people who don't like me any part of my life? Especially the parts I don't even like…to people I don't even like.

"Did you guys see anybody you knew before Green Lake? I saw Dylan," I said, directing the last part at Lewis.

"Yeah. Erica Taylor was there…you know, the girl I punched," TC said while brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Really? Samantha didn't come," Stranger pondered aloud.

"I guess she was just one of those bullies that actually stop when you stab them in the leg," X-Ray laughed.

That broke the tension between us. Just like it should be.

"Did you see Mrs. Piper?" Dutchess laughed.

"Of course, I swear we're all getting detention if we make it back," Caveman chipped in.

"No we aren't, only TC will," Magnet added.

"Great, just great. That's something to look forward to," TC groaned into Caveman's shoulder.

"Hey kids, time to go back in. You ready Tori?" Daddy said coming into the hallway.

"No."

"Well, good luck," I said waving to her as I sat back down next to Squid.

"Do you Victoria Stevens swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" the bailiff asked.

"I do," Hype said hopping up into the seat.

"Now, Victoria-"

"It's Tori," Hype said with a smile. _Not this again_.

Slimy smiled. Yep, totally not good.

"Of course, Tori, Do you believe you should be allowed back to school?"

"I sure do," Hype said with a bounce. _They are going to think she has ADD…which she does, but still…_

"But, did you not get placed into Camp Green Lake by putting a girl into a coma?" Slimy asked with fake enthusiasm, he even raised his eyebrows.

"I'm sure that the way you read it in my file sounds way worse than what actually happened," Hype said rolling her eyes as if to say 'silly goose'. _Between her and X-Ray we will never go back to school._

"Why don't you explain it to me," he suggested, sitting back on his desk corner. _I hope you fall…_

"Okay!"

***

"_Hey Tori!" I turned to see my best friend Ashleigh walking over to me from the mall food court. I was with my boyfriend James, who I hadn't seen in a couple of days because he was out of town with his family…to Missouri or something. We were talking while he was on his lunch break from work (he works at a smoothie shop)._

"_Hey Ashleigh! What's up?" I asked her when she got close enough to hear me. I noticed that she hesitated when she saw James, but she shook it off quickly. That's odd, James and Ashleigh get along normally._

"_Not much. Hello James," she said avoiding his gaze…weird._

"_Hey. Vicky, I got to get back to work," he said kissing me on top of my head. _

_I watched him walk away. When I couldn't see him anymore, I turned my attention back towards Ashleigh._

"_What's up with you?"_

"_Huh? What are you talking about?"  
_

"_You completely just acted like an awkward…thing…with James. I thought you liked him."_

"_I like James fine," Ashleigh said while wringing her shirt in her hands._

"_Hey, are you okay? You know you can tell me anything," I said laying my hand on her shoulder._

"_I know. You won't get mad at me will you?" she said hesitantly._

"_Of course not, you're my best friend!" I said rubbing her shoulder._

"_Okay," she breathed in deeply, "I'll just say and get it over with. James cheated on you."_

_I stopped rubbing her shoulder. "What? How do you know? With who?" I was on the brink of a mental breakdown._

"_I know because it was…me. Please don't hate-"She stopped talking once I punched her in the face._

"_I'm sorry," I said standing over her with a sickly sweet smile, "I must have misheard you. I thought you said that you and James hooked up. But, that can't be true because…James is my boyfriend and you're my best friend."_

_Ashleigh sat up rubbing her face, "I'm so sorry, Tori."_

_I helped her up. "You should be, you're a slut."_

"_What? Tori! Don't be a bitch!" she yelled at me._

_I start walking towards her, "I know you did not just tell me that I'm the bitch, when you're the one who slept with my boyfriend." Then I pushed her off the railing onto the first floor. I heard a crunch, but I was on a mission to find James._

_I walked up to his smoothie stand, "Hey James!" I yelled._

_He turned towards me with a smile, "Hey Vicky! I have a smoothie for you, a customer changed her mind."_

_I took the smoothie and opened lid, "James, I have a question."_

"_Shoot."_

"_Did you hook up with Ashleigh?"_

"_What?"_

"_Wrong answer," I said pouring the contents of the smoothie on him. I turned to walk away, but I paused. "It's Tori, not Vicky."_

_***_

"So you're basically saying that you put your best friend into a coma because she 'hooked up' with your boyfriend?" Mr. Slimy asked incredulously.

"Ex-boyfriend. Pretty much, I mean this wasn't the first time she had done it, apparently," Hype said sweetly. _Oh my God. We are never going back to school._

"Thank you."

Hype hopped down from the stand and skipped, I repeat: _skipped_ back to her seat beside Twitch. Twitch looked at her trying to be supportive of her way of telling her story; I, on the other hand, wanted to kill her.

"Now, if a Mr. Brian Tamouchi would come to the stand," Slime called over to our side of the classroom.

Twitch twitched his way up to the Seat-Of-Doom, and tried to sit as still as he possibly could. Not very well, in other words.

"Are you okay, Mr. Tamouchi?" Mr. Slimy asked nervously.

"I'm fine, just a nervous twitch," he said trying to smile. He kept looking over at us, which is not a good thing. Mr. Slimy is getting suspicious over nothing now.

"What's there to be nervous about?"

"Only the fact that I'm about to share some personal things."

"Well it's not really personal; it is on your public record." He had the audacity to smile.

"Still…" Twitch said in a very uncomfortable voice.

"Moving on. I believe you can deduce what I want you to tell the jury," Mr. Slimy said. He even motioned with his hand in the direction of the jury…yeah, because we forgot they were there.

***

_I could feel its presence. I could always tell when a nice car was in a half a mile radius of me. I don't know why. I hated the fact the my family was so poor that the only way I could see a nice car is walking up and down the freeway. But, every so often, one would pop up in our small town next to Houston. _

_I was currently eating at the local malt shop with my friend. I felt that surge of electricity traveling through and release itself in the form of a twitch. Nervous excitement. I looked up and out of the window. I couldn't believe my eyes: silver Lamborghini Gallardo. I felt the electricity in my fingers speed up. I stood up and left the dinner as fast as I could. The beauty was parked on the other side of the street. _

_I circled it once, twice, three times. Jealousy flowed through my veins. I needed to drive this car. I had hotwired a few cars in the past, but nothing this exquisite. It was my lucky day: the window was down. I hopped into the driver seat, and with a painful cry ripped the wires from under the steering wheel. I ignited it within thirty seconds. I put it in gear and felt the wondrous electricity flowing freely through my body…until I crashed the supernova car into a phone booth._

_I was pulled from the car and had handcuffs on my wrists before I could blink._

_***_

"So you stole a car?"

"Basically, but I didn't get very far."

"Why did you steal the car again?"

Twitch got this far off look in his eye, "I didn't plan to steal it. But, I just saw it and I started twitching. If you think I'm twitching now, you should have seen me around that Lambo. The next thing I knew, I was behind the wheel. It took me less than a minute."

"Do think your peers have reason to fear you?" Mr. Slimy said. He was starting to look a little worried. Good. Serves him right.

"Not unless someone owns a really nice car and I pass it by myself. I'm always with one of my friends and they keep me in check."

"But you seem to have good skills at breaking into things. Could you break in the school? That's dangerous to your former peers."

"No offense. But why would anybody want to break into a school? I mean, I want to go back, but only for the education part."

"That will be all."


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three

_That is all_. Why does that sound like the most cliché phrase right now? Oh, yeah. Because I've heard it about thirty times in the past four hours. Ridiculous.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Twitch smirking at Lewis; I guess the "who would want to break into school?" comment touched a nerve. Well, it serves Lewis right. Honestly, Sarah, Gia, and Rachel think we are all insane for wanting to be back in school. All they see is that we get to be at home all day, which somehow turns into us doing whatever we want to do. Wrong. I'm so tired of having to stay in the house teaching myself material and working all day. It's so…blah. And as much as I love these guys, I'm sick of them in my house…waking me up. I've lost so much sleep. Boo.

"If Mr. Jose Granados will come up to the witness stand?" the prosecutor read from a huge file, not even looking in our direction. Magnet stood up and swaggered over to the Chair of Doom. "Mr. Granados, I'm looking at your file, and it seems that you have had many encounters with Houston's police department; does that sound right to you?" Slimy finally raised his head to look at Magnet, what a lame attempt at emphasis…this isn't a movie.

"Maybe, could you remind of some of the reasons why I had to 'encounter' these police officers?" Magnet replied with his innocent face. REALLY? Why are you giving the man cheek? All of my so-called friends suck.

Slimy smiled sickly, "Well, you've had countless tickets for speeding, a possession of marijuana charge, and, of course, stealing. Care to defend any of these incidents?"

"Yeah, I think I can justify all of those 'incidents,' as you call them. First, I'm a teenage guy. And, I'm pretty sure that we've been stereotyped as fast drivers; why should I go off the beaten path? Secondly, if you finish reading that holding report, the police discovered that it was actually my cousin's weed. And thirdly, the stealing was what led to my lovely stay at Camp Green Lake."

"So, what is your justification of stealing," Slimy began, but just had to look down at the file, "a puppy?" Yeah, because you should just know off the top of your head what Magnet stole, not an important detail. Ugh…

"It was criminal the way they had them locked in the cages," Magnet said sitting up a little straighter.

I heard Squid stifling laughter next to me.

"This isn't funny," I hissed.

He was turning purple from trying not to breathe.

I huffed out an angry sound and turned away from him.

I felt him take my hand in his after a moment, so I turned to him with my eyebrow cocked. He leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"Em, I know this is serious, but come on, out of all of us, Magnet's story is hilarious."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to face the catastrophe that was about to take place. He squeezed my hand, and I could help but squeeze back.

"And, what was so criminal about the cages, Mr. Granados?"

"Let me paint you a picture."

_Oh God…_

"Please do."

_I was walking home from Kerri's house because she went psycho trying to play 'house.' Crazy hoe. We are fifteen; I'm down for fooling around, but there is no way that any regular guy wants to hear "We would make such cute babies" before fooling around. Talk about a mood killer. _

_Walking home is fine with me; I promised Mom that I would pick up some cat litter from the pet store. I strolled through the automatic doors and wandered through the store to find the right brand of cat litter. Mom was very specific that it had to be the right brand…women. Cat litter is cat litter; it soaks up piss._

"_Excuse me, sir. Can I help you find something?" _

_I turned to see a girl around my age, she was super blonde with an over eager smile. I could tell though from the bags under her eyes, she was tired and putting on an act. _

"_Uh, sure. Where's the cat litter?"_

_Her eyes glazed over while she tried to remember where the item was in the store. She stayed like that longer than I think should be allowed, so I interrupted her concentration._

"_You have no idea do you?" I asked smirking at her._

_The fake smile disappeared, and a real one came to the surface with a laugh. "Honestly, I have no idea where anything is. I started a week ago, and I'm trying to impress my boss by being awesome at costumer service. I only applied for this job, so I could play with the puppies."_

"_Really? That's awesome. Where are the dogs? I could use a time killer." I asked. I secretly loved dogs. I wanted one so badly, but with my mom having so many cats, it seemed illogical._

"_Over this way, that's the only thing in the store that I memorized where it is. I'm Kelly, by the way," she said leading the way to the puppies._

"_Jose. What do you actually have to do for this job?"I wouldn't mind having a job for some extra cash, and I didn't care if I had to clean up dog poop to earn it._

"_I thought that it was going to be fun to play with the animals, but its more telling people the most expensive brand of fish tank filters is better, when in reality it's the same as the generic brand."_

"_Doesn't sound that bad."_

"_Oh, it isn't but when you start out you're on doodie duty. That's not exactly my idea of a good time." She pulled out a set of keys and led me to a door that had a sign that said employees only. "Don't worry about that, I'll just tell them that you plan on adopting one. Who knows? Maybe you will."_

_I did not bother correcting her. We went into the room after she checked to make sure that nobody else was in there. I looked around and saw the most horrific site. There were cages stacked upon one another all the way from the floor to the ceiling, and it looked like this room was somebody's office. Most of the cages were just big enough for the dog in them to stand and lay down. There was one cage that caught my attention the most. There were two puppies in there, but the cage was only designed to hold one. _

"_Hey, Kelly, why are two dogs in that cage?"_

"_Oh, it's because they are bothers. They usually put two puppies in one cage until another one gets adopted, then one gets the available cage. It's rather sad back here, but they do get adopted. I make sure to come back here a lot because they need human attention."_

"_Isn't it a code violation or something?"_

_Before she could answer, the door knob to the room started to jingle. Kelly grabbed my arm and pushed me under the desk. "Don't let anyone know you're in here. Here are my keys, lock the door behind you and leave the keys next to the kitty litter." I nodded as she stood up to face the opening door._

"_KELLY? What are you doing in here?" came a male voice. _

"_Uhhhh…" was her genius reply._

"_Gosh, I didn't know that when I hired you that you were going to sneak off to play with the dogs. If I find you doing this again, I'm going to have to fire you."_

"_I'm sorry. I'll go mop the cat litter isle."_

_I heard both of them leave. I waited a few seconds before standing up. I wandered back to the cage that had the two puppies in it. _

"_Hi, guys, I'm going to get you out of here, and then I'm going to call the cops to report this horrible cage situation." I noticed that there was a tag on the cage with a price on it: $1,000 per puppy. "Gosh, you little guys are expensive."_

_I took Kelly's keys to open the cage, and took one puppy out. Only he could fit into my sweatshirt. "Sorry, little man. I'm going to have to come back for you," I said to the other dog. I made sure that nobody could see the one in my sweatshirt before leaving the office. I just left Kelly's keys in the door knob, I needed to hurry up and leave the pet store. _

_I passed too many employees on my way out of the store, or at least it felt that way. I was walking through the door and nodding to an employee, when it happened. The dog inside my sweatshirt barked. I pretended not to hear it, and the employee started to look like maybe he imagined it. I was almost out of the door. Then the little guy went off on a tangent._

_The employee walked over to me, and I noticed his name tag which designated that he was the manager of the pet store…great. He told me to unzip my sweatshirt. I did so because I knew I was caught. He guided me back to the office and sat me down in the chair and called the police._

"So, you were sent to jail for stealing a puppy?" Mr. Slimy asked Magnet, his eyebrow raised with skepticism.

"I prefer to think of it as trying to rescue an animal from cruelty," Magnet responded with an air of superiority.

"Hmmm," Mr. Slimy walked over to Magnet and leant on the witness stand. _Not good._ "So, you fancy yourself a hero?"

Magnet gave a resolute nod.

"So, what would you need to go back to high school for? I mean, obviously you feel that you can do whatever you want without regard of the law, as long as it helps at least one person…regardless of how many people it harms."

I saw Magnet's head tilt to the side…like a dog who just discovered something new.

"I _don't_ think I'm above the law, but I do think that trying to help an innocent animal shouldn't be punished very severely. I guess with my past that it was the last straw. But, I don't see how you connected what I did with 'feeling above the law.'"

Slimy looked like Christmas had come early. "So, you do not feel that if you hadn't done those things in the past, that you would have gotten a slap on the wrist for attempting to steal a puppy?"

"Yes."

"But, how do we know that isn't your pattern?"

"Pattern?"

"You start off doing seemingly harmless things, but then you progress. You start doing things that cause more trouble for people who did not do anything wrong."

"But, the pet store WAS doing something wrong. Did the police even investigate that? No, because who would believe the teenage Mexican immigrant who has had somewhat of a trouble past, if you could even call it that. I got a couple of speeding tickets and a false marijuana charge. I was sent to Camp Green Lake because I tried to help a defenseless animal. I went about it the wrong way, but nobody even considered I was telling the truth. Now, I can't go to school," Magnet rampaged. He took a deep breath and stood up, "That is all," and came back to between Squid and ZigZag.

Mr. Slimy paused and turned towards the jury, and he gave them a meaningful look. As if Magnet was unstable, which could be taken from his storming away from his line of questioning.

I placed my head in the crook of Squid's neck and murmured, "We are never going to school are we?"

I lifted my head and looked into his eyes hoping for some comforting words; instead, he opened his mouth, and this came out, "Probably not, but look on the bright side."

"What bright side? Oh, now we can get married, I can pop out some babies, and you'll work three jobs to support us," I suggested sarcastically.

"Exactly," and his smug grin followed.

"Cute, real cute," came Dutchess's snarky comment as she passed us on her way up to the stand. I had missed her introduction up to the witness stand…she never took being ignored well.

I rolled my eyes at the both of them, but I turned back to the stand to make eye contact with Dutchess to emphasis that I was listening to her story. She cocked her eyebrow back at me.

"Now, Miss Theresa DelVechio, your record says that you were convicted of an incident of Disturbing the Peace. I'm sure that you have an explanation for this event."

"Of course, the event went a little out of hand, and then a misunderstanding was concluded by the police," Dutchess said very proudly. _At least, she's confident_.

"A misunderstanding? If it was misunderstanding, why would it still be on your record?" Mr. Slimy said as though he were very clever.

Dutchess raised her eyebrows at him and widened her eyes, so she could give off an innocent look. I'll give her that; she knows how to ham up anything.

"Sir, I just meant that the police had a hard time understanding what was actually happening, and I was not given enough time to elaborate the situation to them."

"Well, would you like to take this opportunity to _elaborate_ on the situation?"

"Yes, I would."

"Well, let's just start with the first one. It happened last year around Halloween."

"Yes, I know what you're talking about, that was my first Halloween party. My parents were going to be out of town and only fifteen people were supposed to come over, but word got out."

_I was sitting in front of my vanity mirror fixing my hair and make-up. I could not afford to look anything less than perfect because tonight was my debut into the Houston world of awesome Halloween parties. I only invited fifteen people because this year was the year I had to become a little bit more exclusive with my friends. Sorry, but being friends with the girl who still plays Dress-Up and Barbies isn't going to cut it. I need to get in with the in crowd. I may be new to Houston from New York, but I'm going to show this Yellow Roses that this Apple tastes as sweet as they smell. _

_My only consolation was that the head of the popular girls', Olive, best friend, Lilly, seems to have taken me under her wing. She noticed that my shoes were nothing less than Louboutin, and seems impressed. Hell, I'm from New York, fashion capitol. We bonded over our dislike of Chemistry, but really over the love of fashion. However, I had met another girl in my French course, Elise (who seemed nice enough), but obviously hadn't discovered a good moisturizer or a deep conditioner. Lilly had told me that Olive wouldn't even consider meeting me if Elise was going to be my main ambassador to Houston. I told Lilly that Elise was just going to be my French partner and nothing more. Elise had the highest grade, and I had a desire to know the language that would let me live my dream of living in Paris as a struggling, but promising designer. _

_Lilly had briefly brought me over to their lunch table for the few weeks that I'd been going to my new school. But, Olive never seemed to interested in me despite Lilly's insistence that she and I had a lot in common. However, that is all going to change tonight. I've always had a special interest in Halloween. I could be who I wanted to be, not who I was stuck being in Houston._

_Lilly had been very persistent in helping with my party. I could have done it myself, but I figured Lilly may have a better grasp on Houston parties than I would, so I let her pitch in as much as she wanted. Now, we were going over final details before Olive and her other friends arrived._

"_Now, Lilly, I have a list of who's coming; it's mostly half and half with girls and guys. Now, I bought five two liter bottles of soda and some chips. I placed an order for pizza to come around eight. Do you think that's too much food?"I asked while putting on my fake eye lashes._

"_No, actually, I heard that some of the guys were bringing friends, and some of the girls are too."_

"_What? Are you joking?"_

"_Well, you want to be in Olive's inner circle right? Well, saying no to her will not get you in with the group," Lilly said looking through my closet. She turned very slowly towards me, "And, there's one more thing."_

"_What?" I was steadily getting concerned that this master plan would not work._

"_Party favors."_

_A look of confusion blossomed on my face. "Party favors? Like those little bags filled with candy and other crap?"_

_Lilly actually laughed. "You are so cute! No, like substances that help elevate the mood."_

"_Oh.." Well, this is an unfortunate turn of events. "..Um, Lils, I don't think that's a good idea."_

_That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Lilly got very serious, very quickly. She walked over to me and took my hands like she was about to explain something to a small child._

"_Theresa, I understand that you have never drank any alcohol or smoked pot, but that doesn't' mean that it's a bad thing. I don't want you to think that the group you've been so adamant in trying to join is a bunch of alcoholics or potheads. It's just that we like to relax because we all lead really stressful lives maintaining our status as the 'Top Group.' If you want to show Olive that you're serious with being her friend, she needs to know that she can trust you. If you just try some vodka and a hit of weed, then she knows that you're cool to hang with on a regular basis," Lilly said running her fingers through my hair._

"_I mean, I want to be your friend, but I'm not comfortable with that stuff in my house. What if the cops show?"_

_Lilly stopped with finger combing my hair, but that didn't mean that she let go. She yanked my face two inches away from hers, and in a voice that was definitely no-nonsense, "Listen Theresa. You are not going to ruin my reputation by backing out of this party that I practically planned and paid for myself. I've talked you up way more than I should have if this is the kind of thanks I get. You will continue tonight as planned, or I will make sure that your status goes lower than mine." She slowly released my hair and stood up. "I'm going to wait by the door for our guests, you finish getting ready."_

_I watched as she walked out of my room. The devil costume cladding her body was a definite sign that I was about to get into something that I did not want a part of._

* * *

_The party was in full swing. I only personally invited fifteen of the people in my new abode. However, personal invitations mean nothing if the approximately one hundred persons in my house were any indication._

_I was suddenly yanked to my right._

"_OH MY GOD, Tesa! This party is the bomb! And I really like the favors you've supplied in the kitchen," Olive was drunk whispering into my ear._

"_It's Theresa actually. I'm glad you're having a good time," I said as I tried to make my escape. No such luck._

"_OH, sorry, Teri," she giggled. Some of her beverage spilled onto my new Marc Jacobs blouse. "Come with me. I think that Lilly has done an amazing job training you to be a part of my little group. And to reward you, I have someone that I would like you to meet."_

_She steered me in a direction that led to some guy who looked to be about thirty._

"_Teri, this is Xavier. He's super cool, and he's been eyeing you from across the room. I'm going to see where Lilly is hiding. Have fun!" Olive squealed while scampering away faster than I thought a drunk could._

_I eyed Xavier. He didn't seem like the type to be in with Olive's 'crew.' Wearing a bowling shirt, and shoes that could have come from the same place, he didn't exactly fit in._

"_What are you supposed to be?" he asked bluntly._

_I bristled, "Coco Chanel." Definitely not in Olive's inner circle. "What are you doing here?"_

"_I was invited."_

"_Not by me," I said scathingly. "Hardly anybody of these people were invited by me. And I want them gone, all of them. I want the vodka out. I want the bowls and pipes out. I want everyone out."_

"_Want help?"_

_I think that's the first time I smiled since Lilly left my bedroom._

* * *

_I finally found Olive in my bathroom. She was puking into the toilet. Lovely. I waited until she had finished. She saw me before I could start. She started laughing._

"_What exactly is so funny?" I said, trying to keep it cool._

"_This," she smiled. "You know, I didn't think you would really do this, but Lilly just insisted that you would be cool. I admit that I'm still not that impressed, but at least now I know you can't nark."_

_Ouch, that was a little harsh, "And why wouldn't I do that?"_

_Olive lifted herself off of the floor and walked over to me. "I know, because you have them in your kitchen right now. And, you don't even know who brought them, do you? Hypothetically, they could be hidden all over your house, and you wouldn't even know," she said. The smile slid off her face, "I know. So, now that you're one of my 'friends,' I can trust that you won't nark. Maybe it is only out of fear, but I like that quality in my 'friends.'"_

_I pushed her away from me gently, "Oh, Olive. You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that." She smirked. "However, I don't believe that you really have 'friends,' I prefer the term minions. I had a lovely little conversation with Lilly before everyone arrived that drastically changed my aspirations. I don't want to be an Olive minion. More importantly, I would like you to leave." I walked to the bathroom door. "And that so called hidden pot you think I don't know about, I found it. The decorative vase on the mantel, that's not very creative. Goodbye, Olive."_

_The result of my little monologue isn't received well. I was finally yelling at everyone to go home, when I was yanked backwards by my hair._

"_Oh, you little bitch. You think that you're above me. NOBODY is above ME. I hope you know that you just ruined your future here in Houston," she pushing me outside. _

"_Olive, I hate to burst your bubble. But, I'm from New York, and Houston isn't as big as you think it is. I would love to see you try to ruin me, because trust me, there's a lot more people that hate you, then hate me. That's a fact, " I finally said._

_I had forgotten that I'm Theresa DelVechio. I'm from New York. Houston is not where my future starts. It's a pause in my life, until I go back to New York after graduation. Then onto Paris. Olive will not be anything to me._

_She screamed._

_Then the blue lights flashed in the distance._

OH. MY. GOD. I knew that her account was going to be detailed, but jeez. We really didn't need to know that much. Mr. Slimy looks like he agrees. He takes a minute to gather his thoughts.

"If the officer found marijuana and vodka at your house, then why is possession not on your list of charges?" he finally asks.

Dutchess looked at him with pity, "Because unlike Olive, I did not get high that evening. I didn't know where the pot had been hidden, which made me more believable when trying to convince him of that fact. It also helped that Olive was stoned out of her mind, with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit."

Slimy didn't look to happy with that answer. HA, try to twist that around.

"Okay, so why do you think you should be let into school?"

Dutchess smiled, "I believe that my offense was a disturbance that wouldn't have even occurred if Olive hadn't been a horrible person. Maybe, you should find her and ask here why she's still allowed to go to school."

_UGH_. _Why? Why do my friends hate me?_ Do not SASS the prosecutor!

Mr. Slimy sighed, "Thank you Miss DelVechio."

Dutchess stood up, did her beauty pageant smile to the jury, and sashayed back to her seat beside Magnet.

We're doomed.

* * *

It's been about 2 years.

I'm awful, I know.

Sorry.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty-Four

Tears are on the brink of pouring down my face. I don't know what's going to happen anymore. I thought we stood a pretty good chance of winning this case when we first began, but with all of the stories coming into light and the attitude of my friends in having to tell everyone in the court room very personal stories, I was starting to doubt my initial judgement. I didn't even know some of the things that were coming out of my fellow Green Lake Campers mouths. I find it disturbing that our offenses are very different in nature, yet we still ended up in the same place.

Squid finally noticed that I was trying not to have a breakdown right next him. He gently guided my face towards him, "Emma, what's wrong?" His face showed genuine concern.

"Our friends are idiots," I whispered softly while letting him kiss me softly on the forehead.

"HEY. I resent that," ZigZag scolded me, poking his head into Squid and mine's embrace. Thanks for that buddy.

Squid laughed, and said, "Zig, you are an idiot. Just a loveable one."

"Squid, I never knew you felt that way. Sorry, Twist, but I think I just stole your boyfriend," ZigZag grinned at me.

I stopped myself from the downpour that was about to happen. "Sorry, Zig. The best I can do is share, and I get him over the weekends."

ZigZag pouted after blowing a kiss to Squid. While I do believe that my friends are not purposefully sabotaging the trial, it's that gesture that reminds me that no matter what the outcome is we shall be okay and we'll be together.

I turn back to the front of the court room. Ugh…gag me. Slimy was watching this interaction. He's smirking…WHY IS HE SMIRKING?

"Mr. Ricky Collins, if you are done with blowing kisses to the young man in front of you, I would like you to join me up here," Slimy said condescendingly.

"In fact I am. Sorry, Squid, there's another man that's vying for my attention at the moment," ZigZag said making dramatic hand gestures close in nature to a damsel in distress. I'm going to _kill_ him. I look next to me and get the sense that Squid may beat me to it.

ZigZag swaggers over to Slimy, and just stands next to him. I want to strangle him…with my bare hands. This is not the time to be silly!

"Mr. Collins, what are you doing?" the judge asks.

"Well, this man told me to join him. So, here I am. With him," ZigZig smiled. I sensed it before it even happened. _Do not throw your arm around him. Do not throw your arm around him. For the love of God, do NOT throw your arm around him._ He threw his arm around Slimy. I'm in a state of slight horror, amusement, and disgust. Slimy is named Slimy for a reason.

"Mr. Collins! Remove your arm from Mr. Andrews and sit at the witness stand," the judge demands. "In case you've forgotten, this is a serious trial and I would like you to treat it as such."

"Yes, ma'am," ZigZag says in his best southern drawl.

I look to Squid and mouth _'Idiots.'_

Slimy is looking shocked and a little frightened for his life. _Yes, because ZigZag would murder you in a court house_. ZigZag may be a little eccentric, but he's not stupid. Slimy pulls himself together.

"Mr. Collins, do you often feel the need to have physical contact with people that would deem that behavior inappropriate?" _Here we go_.

"I like to reach people on a physical level," ZigZag says with a gleam in his eye.

"How would you describe a 'physical level'?" Slimy was digging.

"My stay at Green Lake was a lot longer than my fellow campers. As a result, I got used to no technology in my world. When we were released, I noticed that everybody is glued to some device and isn't completely immersed into the physical world. I feel that reaching out to someone with physical contact anchors them back to Earth," ZigZag said while picking at a splinter in the wood that made up the witness stand. If he had been looking at the room, he would have seen shock and awe on just about everybody's face. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was expecting that as an answer.

"So, you feel that it's up to you to invade people's personal space?" Slimy asks incredulously. Looks like he wasn't expecting that to come out of the mouth of a boy with hair that looks like it's been electrocuted.

"No," ZigZag finally looks up, determination upon his face. "I would never do anything that would make anybody uncomfortable, but I feel that contact connects people and a good way."

"Hmm," was all that Slimy had as a response. "Well, Mr. Collins, I assume that you've gathered that I would like you to share your story with the jury."

"Sure, but I'm pretty sure you really want to share what's on my file. You seem a bit too excited." Slimy looked like Christmas had come early. "However, I'm going to do it for you."

And here is the moment where every one of the boys sits up. I notice that ZigZag glances at Princess. I guess he's never shared what's fully happened to him with her.

"Well, Mr. Collins, please tell me what you think I'm so excited to share with the jury."

"I'm diagnosed with Acute Paranoia, which means that if I don't take my medicine I get very distrustful of people because I'm convinced they're lying to me. I can also get violent if I think there's a threat, but again that's if I'm not taking my medication. Sometimes I even get hallucinations."

I glance at Princess, she looks worried. I'm not sure if it's out of concern for ZigZag or herself.

"Why do you think that I would be excited to share that with the jury?" Slimy asks. He sort of looks uncomfortable. _Maybe, ZigZag does know what he's doing._

"I think that you were going to twist my diagnosis into a make-believe story about how if I went off medication that I could potentially harm every single student in Houston High, including my friends."

"Well, that is a possibility correct?"

"Yeah, I'm not going to lie and say that it isn't, but I've had that diagnosis since I was ten years old. While I will never be rid of it, I've learned how to control it as best I can if I can't take my medicine."

"And how did you build up this tolerance against triggers?"

"Sir, I was a Camp Green Lake for three years. I wasn't given a single dose of my medicine, and I feel that I handle myself fairly well."

_Good ZigZag, show that you've been treated cruelly. It'll buy sympathy._ I looked over to the jury and sure enough, there were more concerned and horrified faces about the lack of care at Camp Green Lake, than concerned and horrified faces from the phrase about 'fairly well.'

"Well, Mr. Collins, since you've been so forthcoming, please share with us the story about how you came to be a resident at Camp Green Lake."

"Well, as I've said, I've been diagnosed with Acute Paranoia since the age of 10. Which means that at the time of my offense I had been on medication for four years. However, my family didn't have a lot of money, so there weren't back to back refills. This was one of those times, and I hadn't learned to really control myself."

_I was having a hard time this week. Mom hadn't had enough money to buy another refill of the medicine that I have to take every day. I don't really understand why I have to take it. I know that I feel calmer when I'm on it, but that's it. Maybe that's why this week I don't want to do anything. I'm in my science class right now, and the teacher is talking about cutting open the frog that's on the tray in front of me._

"_So, remember class that this exercise is to show you where the organs of the body are located. The set up of the organs in the frog is very similar to that of our own. I would like you to follow the instructions on the worksheet and fill it out as you identify the correct organs."_

_I watched as everyone else around me started cutting up the frogs. I went to start and grabbed the very dull scalpel they provided to us. Except, the frogs didn't really look like frogs anymore. They were morphing into green little humans. And my classmates' chatter turned into a manic laughter as they cut into the little green human. I just stared at the little green human on my tray. I can't cut open a human. I felt a presence behind me. I was still holding the scalpel, and was about to defend myself from the person behind me. I was convinced it was one of my evil classmates come to see if the teacher observation about my organs equaling the frogs was true._

"_Ricky, why haven't you started?" my teacher asked me. I looked around. The little green humans were frogs again, and I dropped my scalpel. I had had it in a vice like grip. She was kneeling next to my chair. I guess I looked confused because my teacher asked if I was okay._

"_Mrs. Keating, I don't really want to do this," I said hoping that she would just tell that was fine._

"_Ricky, this is for a grade, so I'm sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable but you have to do the assignment."_

_I tried to control myself, but I just blurted it out, "I'm not cutting up a frog!"_

_Mrs. Keating was taken aback, but she calmly told me that if I personally didn't want to cut up the frog, then I could work as a partner to somebody. She said I would just have to fill out the worksheet. She stood back up and looked around the room. "Shelly, I would really appreciate it if you would let Ricky help you fill out the worksheet."_

_This Shelly girl just smiled, and moved over so I could help. I guess this was a little better._

"_Hi Ricky! I've already opened the frog, but I haven't filled out the worksheet yet. How about you write and I'll point out where everything is," Shelly said._

"_I guess that works," I said shyly. I didn't really have many friends, and I wasn't used to people being nice to me. I could already hear all the whispers about me having to be pair up…with a girl no less._

"_So, Ricky, I know those are the lungs, which means that's the heart," Shelly started rambling, but I hadn't moved an inch._

_I could still hear them._

"_I can't believe Ricky can't open a frog."_

"_Yeah, he's really weird."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_He just yells for no reason, and sometimes he gets this manic gleam in his eyes."_

"_That's freaky."_

"_That's because Ricky's a freak."_

"_Sicky Ricky."_

"_He's so gross."_

"_Poor Shelly, having to be paired up with him."_

"_I wish he would just be homed schooled."_

_I wanted to scream. I wanted to leave. I looked at Shelly. I think she just said something to me. She kept opening her mouth, but nothing was coming out._

"_WHAT?" I yelled. I couldn't hear her._

_She just kept moving her mouth, and then the most terrifying thing happened. When her mouth moved a ribbit came out. Exactly like a frog._

"_What?" I whispered stepping backwards. She kept ribbiting, then somehow she turned into a giant green frog. I screamed._

_I turned to look around the teacher for help, but what I saw made me scream even louder everyone had turned into a frog. And they were advancing on me. I grabbed the scalpel from the table to defend myself. _

_Someone tackled me from behind. I hit my head on the table._

_The next thing I remember is waking up in the nurses office restrained._

"_Ricky, honey, do you know where you are?" the older lady behind the counter asked me._

"_I'm at school. I'm in the nurses office," I said to her. "Why am I restrained?"_

"_Sweetie, do you not remember what happened in Mrs. Keating's class?"_

_I tried to remember, but I couldn't. I shook my head. "You started threatening people with a scalpel." I was very confused. _

_She's lying. She just wants me out of this school. Like everyone else. I hear what everyone says about me every day. I'm a freak. I'm gross. But, I need to keep calm, and convince her that I'm normal. "Why am I restrained?" I repeated._

"_I restrained you because you were thrashing in your sleep. I didn't want you to fall off the table." Lies. All lies. "I can release you, but you have to promise to sit here with me until your mom comes to get you."_

"_Yes, ma'am."_

_I can out run her, she's old. And that what I did. I shot off to my science class. When I got there, it was like remembering another life. The frogs. This place is unsanitary. It needs to be cleansed._

_Everyone else was at lunch, but I knew what I had to do. The kids all I'm really stupid, but I'm not. I'm smarter than all of them. All I needed was some hydrogen peroxide and a flame, which was all here in this room. I knew how to start the flame on the teachers desk. I found a balloon, and filled it with the hydrogen peroxide. I looked around the room and the frogs were all lying there on the tables. I stepped backed into the hallway. I threw the balloon at the flame. The science room blew up._

I knew that ZigZag was a little unhinged, but this was a lot more than I expected. I felt something move, and I looked down. I was holding Squid's hand so tightly that his fingers were losing color. I loosened my grip.

"You would describe this as your worst episode?" Slimy asked. He looked a little unhinged himself. _How does somebody ask that after a story like that?_

"No, my worst was right after I was diagnosed. I was convinced my mother was trying to poison me with the medicine that was going to help me. I broke her jaw," ZigZag looked down in shame.

"The episode that landed you at Green Lake, it occurred in school, yes?"

"Yes."

"So, would it be fair to say that you put your fellow students in jeopardy?"

"Yes, but I would like to point out that I was fourteen. Everybody is emotional at fourteen. My emotions were heightened by a diagnosis I couldn't control. A diagnoses that the school was aware I couldn't control. I don't blame anybody but myself for that. However, I'm seventeen now. I was in a situation that forced me to learn how to deal with my episodes. If granted permission to go back to school. There's only four months left. I doubt that an episode is going to happen. I'm on my medication, and I'm able to afford it so I won't have to wait for refills."

"You sound very eloquent and confident."

"I am."

I watched ZigZag walk stoically back to his place behind us. We all turned to look at him.

"Ziggy, where in the world did that come from?" X-Ray asked him.

ZigZag didn't answer. The only thing he did was watch as Princess walked up to the stand to tell her story.

I noticed the tear streaks on her face as she was sitting down. She glanced at ZigZag and took a deep breath.

"Miss Lillian Newman, how are you doing today? You look a little shaken up," Slimy said with fake concern. _You have absolutely no sympathy from anyone_._ Nobody's buying it._

"I'm just going to tell my story," Princess said very quietly.

"Please," Slimy said taken aback.

None of us knew what Princess had done, so we were all interested what could have landed her here with the rest of us.

"I've been in pageants all my life. I've been Miss Ultimate Supreme more times than I can count on my fingers. I was a winner. I was a star," Princess said looking off into the distance.

_I loved being pampered. Getting my hair curled in the morning was a very relaxing part of my day. I loved the spray tans. I loved the fake nails. I even adored my flippers until all my teeth had come in. I loved the dresses. I loved being the center attention. But, I didn't love anything more that that crown on my head, looking down at the jealous looks upon my competitors faces._

_The judges loved me. And I repaid them by always showing up with a new routine, a new dress, and new answer. I never got boring._

_I also never realized the toll the pageant life was taking on my family. Mom worked two jobs and Dad traveled so he could make more money. Still, pageant life wasn't cheap. A new dress could cost up to $10,000, and I would always get that one because I couldn't lose in a $10,000 dress. The traveling to all these different states for a cash prize and a crown that didn't even come close to reimbursing my parents for the money that they spent. I didn't know._

_I became qualified to be Miss Teen USA. I refused to take no as an answer. I was going to eventually become Miss Universe if I killed me. I watched the Miss Universe competition like it was my life…in a way it was. _

_It was in the middle of doing the stage rehearsal for the Miss Teen USA. It was close to ten o'clock at night. We finished up pretty quickly, but I didn't want to leave. I convinced my mom to go back to our room (the competition was in the hotel that we were staying at). I told her I was going to bond with the other contests. In reality, I was learning how to take down my competition._

"_Oh my goodness, Lillian, I can't believe I'm finally getting to meet you. I've been such a fan. You're a star in my little home town," Miss Teen Mississippi gushed. _

"_Oh, bless your heart, that's so sweet," I said in my sickeningly sweet voice._

_Miss Teen Mississippi's smile dropped a little bit. Being a fellow southerner, she knew what that meant. I meant business. I was taking no prisoners._

_I had been evaluating the competition and found my main competitor. As usual, Miss Teen California. She was tan. She was blonde. She was athletic. She also had a dry eye problem._

_I approached her during the 'bonding' time us girls had scheduled. She was standing in front of the mirror putting drops in her eyes._

"_Don't you just hate all the strain these things can put on our bodies. I don't think I've eaten a doughnut since the age of ten," I said trying to gauge her extremeness for pageantry._

"_Oh, I don't know. It's nice that something is forcing us to be healthy. I guess I don't really worry about the eating aspect though because I workout so much," she rebutted, purposefully eyeing my less than perfectly toned arms._

"_I guess so. I run enough to keep my figure. But, the one thing I can't control is how dry my skin gets when I'm stressed about these things," I put out as bait._

_Bait which she took. "OH, I can totally relate. My eyes just get so dry. I wear contacts, I'm practically blind without them. So, I have to carry these eye drops everywhere I go," she said showing me the bottle. Hook, line, and sinker._

"_Oh, that's a bummer. I guess I should get to bed. Good luck tomorrow!" I say with over enthusiasm._

"_You too!" she says walking in the opposite direction._

_I noticed that she left her bag here. Lucky for me, I wear contacts too. And I have just the thing to get ahead of her in the competition._

_The next day, everybody is in a frenzy getting ready to go on stage. I loved all the hustle and bustle. It's invigorating. _

_We had just come off stage from the opening dance number. I notice Miss Teen California looking for her eye drops. I offered her mine._

"_Oh thanks, you're a lifesaver."_

"_Oh, really it's my pleasure."_

_What she failed to notice was the kind of eye drops I handed her. They weren't eye drops at all, but a form of contact solution. The kind that bubbles. The kind that you have to wait six hours to put your contacts back in because of the searing pain._

_I went back on stage before she put in her eye. Miss Teen Mississippi was just being introduced by our host, when we all heard the blood curdling scream. Everyone rushed back to Miss Teen California yelling, "I can't see! It was Lillian! It was LILLIAN NEWMAN!"_

_All eyes turned to me. And security put me in handcuffs._

Silence.

"You blinded a girl to win a competition? A _beauty_ competition?"Slimy said astonished.

"Yes. I was unaware of my actions. I was only fourteen. I was sent to a girls juvenile detention center, until there was no room. I didn't even have a year until my sentence was done. They found out Green Lake had a girl, and decided to send me there," Princess said. She wasn't looking at anybody. She wasn't speaking with emotion. It was disturbing.

"You seem to have a complex with winning. A competitive spirit. What would prevent you from trying to do the same thing to someone who had higher grades than you? What about sports? You couldn't join them."

Princess finally looked at Slimy, like she just noticed that he was there.

"I'm not pleading innocence. I'm not even asking for anybody forgiveness. I was wrong. I learned that. I had two years confined in a cell at a detention center, and then I had a few months in a desert digging holes for a crazy woman. You learn a lot about yourself when you have nothing else to do but dig. I realized I'm very insignificant in the scheme of things. I realized I blinded a girl for life for no reason other than an almost-psychotic desire to win. I realized that I was a horrible person."

"You don't sound like you're trying to get back into a public setting. You don't even seem to sound like you like yourself."

"I don't hate myself anymore. That's because I meet wonderful people at Green Lake. Other people who made mistakes. None of them knew what I had done until now. Actually a lot of us didn't know what the others had done. All we knew is that somehow something went wrong in our lives. We had to learn how to have fresh starts. As crazy as it sounds, meeting these people was my fresh start. I know that they all care about me as the person I am now, and that's because they didn't judge me on my mistakes. I believe in second chances. I would like one by being permitted to return to my school."

"Thank you, please return to your seat." Slimy was starting to get worried.

* * *

Again, I'm awful.

-Dee


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

I started to look around the court room. More than a couple of people looked more than shocked. I understand why. Princess may be above average height, but she's thin. And I don't mean a normal thin, I mean _thin_. I always worried about her at Camp Green Lake because I wasn't sure how she would manage digging a five feet deep hole. I guess, she could be considered someone who seems harmless. Especially now. She doesn't really tell us a lot about her life. I think the people she's the closest to are Dutchess and ZigZag.

I don't know if her story about her blinding another girl helped the trial any, but her speech about second chances definitely didn't hurt. At most, her testimony shook the attitude of the room. I looked back around to look at the jury and most of them seemed uncomfortable. _That could be bad or good_.

Slimy looked very uncomfortable and kept glancing over at us. _That is very good_. I felt my spirits suddenly rising, and I looked around to see who was left. Just three testimonies to go from us: Zero, Caveman, and Squid. Then, the final arguments. Then, the big verdict. That could possibly define our lives…scratch that. It will define our lives.

I settled back into the bench next to Squid. I could feel the anxiety coming off of him. I thought back to our conversation the other night. We hadn't even approached the topic since then. Mainly because he's in denial and I'm too afraid to bring it up. I love Alan, but his worst trait is his tendency to turn all his emotions inward.

Slimy had finally regained his composure, and picked up the next folder on the table. He quietly said, "Mr. Hector Zeroni, please approach the witness stand."

Zero stood up slowly and paused for a moment. He glanced down and squeezed Stranger's hand; whether for her reassurance or for his own nerves, I don't know. We all watched him slowly walk to the front of the room. Before he went up to the witness stand, he looked back into the crowd and briefly smiled and nodded to someone. I turned around and noticed that Mrs. Zeroni was sitting in the crowd. She gave Zero a brief nod and hesitantly smiled back at her son. She was one of the few parents that had come to our trial.

"Do you think he's actually going to talk to him?" Squid whispered into my ear.

"I hope so," I breathed out.

Zero had only just started opening up to us. Not even just opening up; he just started _talking_ normally with us. The only two people he really spoke to were Stranger and Caveman. Zero preferred to observe. I had a feeling he was the smartest person in our group. I just hoped that he decided to be smart and answer Slimy's questions.

"Mr. Zeroni, thank you for being here today. Is that your mother in the room?" Mr. Slimy asked, gesturing to Mrs. Zeroni.

Zero just stared. _Not a good sign_.

"Mr. Zeroni, could you please answer my question," Mr. Slimy asked smiling.

The only indication that Zero gave was making eye contact with Slimy. Slimy's smile dropped a fraction.

"Your Honor, could you please tell Mr. Zeroni to answer my question," Mr. Slimy asked. While, most people would see this as Slimy just wanting to embarrass Zero, I know better. He wants to show people that Zero isn't cooperative. Zero can't function in society because he can't even answer a simple question. Zero _is stupid_.

I think that Zero _needs to talk_. So does the judge.

"Mr. Zeroni, you need to answer the question," she said to Zero.

Zero looked up at her.

"Why?" he asked. He said the one syllable word so quietly it was hard to hear him.

"Because I'm telling you to."

"Fine," Zero said. He whipped back around and locked eyes with Slimy. "Yes."

"Nice to know that you can answer my questions," Slimy says smirking. "Now, I'm looking at your file right now, and I'm reading about how you were a ward of the state. I see from your statement at age ten that your mom left you in a park, where you hid in a yellow slide for a few days before the police found you."

Slimy looked up. Zero just stared at him. He wasn't glaring. He wasn't playing indifferent. He just stared, like Slimy was reading a story about a far away land.

Slimy continued, "There are also many testimonies from your foster families that you would often steal from them. You wouldn't talk to them. Most thought you were mute. Also, I see that you were transferred to a home for boys when you were fourteen. Again, the testimony from the staff is basically the same as the foster families you stayed with briefly. Now, Mr. Zeroni I would like for you to tell the jury how you ended up going to Camp Green Lake."

Zero stared. He stared in a way that after a few seconds, Slimy started fidgeting.

"I was fifteen," Zero said in the loudest voice I've ever heard come out of him.

_It's the same thing every day. Wake up. Brush teeth. Eat. Quiet time. Eat. More quiet time. Eat. Shower. Brush teeth. Bed. Repeat. _

_It's a joke._

_Every boy in Houston's Home for Boys had this routine memorized._

_If you weren't up and ready for breakfast at 8 am, you were punished. Better be quiet during quiet time or else. Lunch is at 12 pm or no food. Dinner's at 6 pm. Hungry beforehand? Too bad. The allotted time for a shower (a cold shower) five minutes. In bed by 10 pm. No talking._

_That was the main point of the Home: no talking. Silence. Or suffer. Sent into the Head of Home's office for the first offense. A belt beating for the second. No breakfast/lunch/dinner for the third. The fourth offense: solitary confinement in the basement for a week with only bread and water as food._

_Good thing I like silence._

_Rules for quiet time: _

_NO TALKING._

_Do not leave your room._

_Do not leave the Home._

_No sleeping._

_I didn't talk to anyone, so no problem there._

_The Home is very dull. It's almost completely gray. Gray walls. Gray floors. Gray ceilings. Gray uniforms. Gray food. Gray everything._

_I escape the Home about three times a week. I've only been caught once. That's the nice thing about the routine, I know exactly when I need to be back. I know where every single employee is at every moment. The Home breathes routine. It's never broken. It never will be._

_Today is a day for escaping._

_I watch as the woman who is in charge of my group's section checks on us for the last time until it's dinner time. She's supposed to check in the room every hour, but she really doesn't care that much. As long as everyone that's here in the beginning is here at the end, she doesn't question it. She's just wants to keep her job._

_I wait about ten minutes before heading towards the doors to the hallway. The guard for this floor is three floors above us (probably trying to convince the Head of Home to buy something). Our woman went into the staff room next to ours to read one of her silly novels about romance._

_I quickly walk to the door as silently as I can. With a glace over my shoulder to completely make sure nobody has seen me, I walk out into the warm Houston air. I don't stop walking at a fast pace until the Home is out of my sight. Finally, I slow my pace as I reach my normal spot to sit and watch the activity that's going on outside of the Home. I think about the last time I was out of the Home's walls._

_I walked to a local spot and noticed a lot of people gathering around. A lot more people than there normally are. I crept inside to see what was going on. It seemed like it was an auction. Then I saw what everybody was looking at so intensely. _

_Shoes._

_I had to admit they looked pretty cool. I was looking around all of the people who were here. They seemed to be all looking at a man in the back of the room. I started to walk all the way around the room to see what else was in the room. But, my eyes kept going back to the shoes. I was there for about thirty minutes just looking around, when the man everybody was looking at early started talking to the room._

_I wasn't paying attention to him. My eyes were on the shoes. I started to walk back toward them, and then I noticed nobody was paying attention to me or the shoes, just the man in the back of the room speaking. _

_I made a split-second decision. I don't know what it was, but I wanted those shoes more than anything. So, I looked around the room one more time. When I saw that nobody was paying attention to the little boy in gray, I grabbed the shoes and started to walk as inconspicuously as I could toward the door._

_I made it about a mile before I heard the sirens. I was walking across the bridge when I first heard them. I knew that they would stop me if they saw me, so I threw the shoes over the bridge and ran for it. _

_I stopped running when I got to the one place I always make sure to visit when I leave the walls of the Home. The park where I last saw my mom. I knew that it had been five years since she left me there. Somehow, I knew that she was looking for me. I figured this would be the best place for her to come looking for me. Usually I would just sit here for hours when I escaped the Home waiting for my mom to turn the corner and run to me and tell me that she never meant to leave me._

_That's where I was now. Sitting on a bench about ten feet away from the yellow slide where my mom kissed me goodbye._

"_This is so stupid," I thought to myself. "It's been five years, if my mom wanted to find me, she would have by now."_

_A surge of rage burst through and I stood up abruptly and stormed out of the park. I found myself walking through Houston and not really paying attention to where I was going. I ended up outside of a Payless. Thinking of the rush that taking those shoes the other day really made me want to see if I could do it again, but this time I would make it to the Home._

_I went inside and noticed that the woman behind the counter was eyeing me. I smiled at her to see if that would help. She hesitantly smiled back, but she didn't take her eyes off me. I walked around the store pretending to look at the shoes, I saw at least three other people in the small store. The woman behind the counter was still eyeing me. Then I heard a colossal crash, the woman rushed to go see what happened. I seized my chance. I grabbed some shoes that were my size and ran out of the store. _

_I was running as fast as I could, and I started to slow down when I saw the Home in my sight. I was walking towards the Home to get my breathing under control when I heard the sirens again._

_This time there was no bridge to throw the shoes over. There was no place to hide. I just tried to get into the Home, but the police ended up catching me on the doorstep._

"So, you're motivation to steal was the knowledge that your mother had abandoned you without out any indication as to why?" Slimy asked Zero.

Zero just stared at Slimy. That story was the most that Zero had spoken at once to a room full of people. I don't think he was in a hurry to continue.

"Well, from your story that was made clear. You stormed off in anger because your mother left you. You returned to that park at least three times a week, according to your own story, and when she didn't show up any of those times for the five years you were waiting, you finally lost it. As you said in the beginning, the woman behind me is your mother. You are currently in her care, but do you know for sure that she isn't going to leave you again? What if she does? What if that makes you lash out in anger again? You may just have stolen something before, but what if you go into one of these rages and hurt a peer?" Slimy was prying.

Zero continued to stare, but his face hardened a little bit.

"Mr. Zeroni, are you sure that your mother, a woman that left you in a park and didn't show up until you actively searched for her, is going to remain in your life for good?" Slimy condescendingly sneered.

"My mom is never going to leave me again," Zero said to Slimy, glaring at him. "Never."

"But, how do you know that?" Slimy said a little taken aback.

"I know," Zero said in a tone of finality. Zero turned his head away.

"Thank you," Slimy said smiling.

Zero slowly walked back towards his seat, but before he did that he stopped on the other side of the partition in front of his mother.

"I love you," he whispered so quietly, I could barely hear him.

Mrs. Zeroni smiled through her tear stained face, and whispered the sentiment back to her son.

Zero turned back towards us and walked towards his seat and sat down.

"Your Honor, I would like to call Mr. Stanley Yelnats IV to the stand," Mr. Slimy asked.

"Your Honor, may I approach the bench," Daddy said all of a sudden.

I sort of forgot he was there. Apparently, most of us did. Mainly, Mr. Slimy.

"Mr. Robinson, I forgot you were representing these children. I haven't heard you object a single time today, that must be a new record for you. Your Honor, I feel that whatever Mr. Robinson needs to address to you will effect my knowledge of the case as well. I propose he just let the room know," Mr. Slimy said.

"Mr. Robinson," the judge started.

"It's fine your Honor," Daddy said. "I feel that my client, Mr. Stanley Yelnats IV, does not need to approach the stand."

Both the judge and Mr. Slimy looked very surprised.

"And why is that, Mr. Robinson?" the judge asked.

"I'm sure that you've been given a copy of Mr. Yelnats juvenile record, along with Mr. Stone," Daddy started. _So that's Mr. Slimy's real name!_ "As I'm sure you both can see that the state of Texas does not recognize any conviction or punishment that Mr. Stone is claiming to have happened."

"WHAT?" Mr. _Slimy_ (let's face it, it fits better than Stone) asked, losing his composure a bit.

"You can see that Mr. Yelnats record was immediately expunged after a different trail that took place following his release from Camp Green Lake. So, in the eyes of Texas law and the United States, Mr. Yelnats has not committed any crime," Daddy said calmly. He paused so the judge and Slimy could confirm.

The judge took here copy of Caveman's records and calmly looked over it to see if what Daddy was saying is true. Slimy, on the other hand, was frantically looking over his copy of the file and his notes to see if what Daddy was saying was false. It wasn't.

Daddy noticed that Slimy was in a panic, so he finished his statement, "So, your Honor, because Mr. Yelnats has not committed any crime, and this part of the trail is about all of my clients giving they're testimonies of their crimes, while allowing Mr. Stone to interrogate them, I see no reason for Mr. Yelnats to approach."

The judge smiled just a bit in amusement at Mr. Slimy's expense. "Well, Mr. Stone, I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Robinson. As I can see from Mr. Stanley Yelnats IV's record, he is a perfect citizen. You will move onto your next person."

Slimy was red in the face. He looked like a toddler who'd been denied a candy bar. _Finally, some real payback._ We were all chuckling to ourselves, and Caveman seemed in shock. I guess it didn't occur to him that in the eyes of the law, he's done nothing wrong…ever. Lucky him.

"Yes, your Honor," Slimy said in a constrained voice. "Mr. Alan Smith, if you will please approach the stand. That is if Mr. Robinson doesn't have anything else to say."


End file.
